Recovery: Destruction Order
by HarunaRei
Summary: The first revolt is over and the dust has barely begun to settle, but it seems there are those that want to end this permanently.  Not that the second-generation bioroids are going to permit it.  Cowritten with Laryna6.
1. Deceptive Calm

_Alright, here begins installment two of Recovery! To those who are first-time readers, this is the second part of a story series. The first story, Recovery: Birth, should be read first and can be found in my profile. I am not going to provide a synopsis; I do not believe in those. This isn't a television episode and I'm not wasting a precious chapter on it.  
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_ This, like the first story, was co-written with Laryna6. _

_Capcom owns the Mega Man franchise, not us, and we are not making any profit from it.  
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><p>They say that there is a calm before the storm, an electric anxiety that pervades the atmosphere, putting man and beast alike on edge. Very few ever mention the calm <em>after<em>the storm, when all is quiet and everyone is just cringing, waiting for it to whip back into a fury once again. Even when everything is clear, it's not over. Because after a storm, everything has to be picked up and put back in order. The rebuilding process is even more draining than the fit itself because it is during that time that all pains must be addressed. Everything must be righted for a strong foundation for the future.

Maybe that's what was making this so hard.

It's not that he didn't want to be doing this: it was quite the opposite. For the last six months, he'd fought tooth and nail and his bioroids were _still__ alive._ They had a hard time looking at him with any degree of trust—some of them could barely stand his presence, their disgust was so overwhelming. But they were _alive._ The legal circus wasn't nearly over and his lawyer was profiting from his exposure in the media just as much as from Light's legal bills, but he'd managed to keep Rock, Roll, and the other six away from the commotion as much as he could. There were a few months, right after it ended, where there were half a dozen squad cars patrolling the stretch of road that led to his main lab complex. Police guards stationed at all hours to keep the zealous away.

There'd been death threats.

There'd been marriage proposals.

He felt like no one was even grasping the _point_ of this whole thing.

The rights issues, the humane treatment issues, that the hospitals _deliberately __lied __to __him __and __his __company._ That this was an act of final desperation, that they'd been grasping at any chance they'd had to live. That they had no other choice.

All of that was blown over (or swept under the rug, depending on how you looked at it) with the media's sensationalist tendencies. They'd focused instead on how dangerous bioroids were, how irresponsible it was to arm them with such powers ("_Who_ armed them?" Roll had yelled when she saw that on TV. Before capturing them, they'd had absolutely no data on the abilities. They weren't supposed to be able to do _any_ of that.).

Then there was the matter of the doctors and medical staff that was infected. There was no way to cure them that Dr. Light could discern. The nanites were flawlessly integrated into every single system in their bodies. Removing them would be like trying to remove all their cells, or something equally nonsensical. They'd been irrevocably changed.

At least the scare about the idea of "rogue bioroids" on the loose had mostly died down. People were still aware that those children were unaccounted for, but no news meant no viewers, so the media stopped reporting on it in favor of something more scandalous. Something more shocking.

They'd spent their first few weeks in the Lab complex. Dr. Light was surprised that they'd come out almost immediately, even if it was only two of them, but none requested to see him, or to speak to him. They'd kept to themselves mostly at first. Roll had taken great care to prepare their room and the video feeds from Rock and Roll were fascinating to watch. A group of six humans, especially six same-gendered humans, would have separated into their own, private areas in the space. The beds would have been pulled apart and territories would have been claimed. The entire room remained communal. They didn't even necessarily sleep in the same spot every night.

Fascinating as it was, watching how closely they stuck together left Dr. Light with a bittersweet feeling. They didn't trust him, not at all, and some of them barely trusted Rock and Roll. Them joining together like that could be because they considered themselves centered in an enemy base rather than because it was how they preferred it.

But Blues hadn't liked sleeping alone, either.

Then of course, came the trial. The authorities came and moved the six to an "evidence locker" to be held in until the trial. They did not want Dr. Light tampering with the bioroids to make his company look better. Roll didn't know which to be angrier about, that they honestly thought Dr. Light might alter things or that her brothers, who are _people_, were being treated like a gun in a murder investigation!

Naturally, handling the bioroids like items, like Dr. Light's property, his weapons, was ethically much simpler than portraying them for what they were: a group of six people who'd been so abused, so tortured, that pushing back was the only way they could have survived.

The containment wasn't as comfortable as their accommodations in his labs. Their diet was restricted, kept to a bare minimum to keep them healthy, but not providing them with extra nutrients and minerals to activate their abilities. Even exposure to sunlight was rationed.

At least they were being allowed it, unlike the hospitals.

He felt terrible. He should be able to do something to protect them from this. He'd created them, they were his responsibility.

He'd failed them at every turn.

At least they were being kept in the same room, and they'd let Roll insist on providing the same blankets and pillows. At least they let Rock and Roll visit, even if the conversations were likely monitored. At least the joke about Roll smuggling in a key in a pie had only been a joke, and they'd let her bring food provided it was ordinary food.

Everything was scanned after that joke, though.

It couldn't have been good for their morale, but not one of them seemed surprised by this move. They all just accepted it. They'd allowed the soldiers to constrain them for contained transport, even though it must have been uncomfortable. Some of the soldiers were a bit antsy. They weren't the same ones that had come with from hospital to hospital. They wanted as little contact with the bioroids as possible. Misinformation was everywhere, especially online. Anyone with the 'net and five minutes could dig up a wealth of falsities. Fantastic lies. Saying the bioroids could infect with a touch, assimilate humans, turn them into mindless slaves. Saying the bioroids were vampires or zombies, masquerading as living beings that could feel, could care.

Every word of it undermined Dr. Light's efforts, every step of the way. It sickened him.

At least Roll still looked after him, and grumbled on his behalf as much as her brothers'. At least Rock tried to cheer him up, to comfort him, and he didn't know whether or not Rock _knew_.

He hoped he didn't know, about his accidental namesake, but what if he found out? The information was everywhere: Roll _had _to know.

Seeing that shock and horror on his face...

Dr. Light had to sit down. He could hear Roll in the kitchen, busying herself with dinner. Even if it hadn't been a conscious decision, wasn't that what both Rock and Roll were becoming? More than test subjects, more than people. Dr. Light couldn't deny that they'd become part of his family in the past year. And now, their own fates could very well be decided by the precedent set at the outcome of this trial.

He'd had Rock delete all of the borrowed weapon designs, even the armor design, although he'd kept a copy of that, and the disabling weapon. Those two were simple protection, and a weapon only useful against bioroids.

It was a wise move; he didn't want it to look like Rock or Roll was dangerous toward humans. Someone leaked photos of an exhausted Rock curled in a soldier's arms to the media, and the press went wild. It was some much-needed positive publicity. They needed to understand that despite being a bioroid, despite being the one that risked himself time and again to help everyone, he was still a child. Children were hard to hold to any blame, and he hoped that that sympathy would hold fast.

The visits with their brothers helped, too. They were concerned for them. They were worried, they wanted them to be safe and happy. Concern, humanness. Even if the media wasn't allowed anywhere near the containment center for the six, the fact that Rock and Roll were visiting like someone would visit normal prisoners….

You couldn't visit evidence in an evidence locker, but you could visit people.

Maintaining their personhood would be the hardest obstacle of all.

Since he himself had done so much to undermine it. If they could be reduced to things, tools, then they would be safe to use. Lives could be saved.

And, if they were things, tools, then they couldn't be blamed for what had happened, now could they? Even some people arguing not to destroy them were taking that approach. After all, they were designed to prioritize human health, and then their _human _bodies were stored in an unhealthy environment?

No one had said it—yet—but he was being hypocritical now. People didn't trust someone like that. He was the one who erected every obstacle standing in their way now. With every accusation against Blues, with every claim that he was dangerous, that he wasn't actually capable of emotion, that he wasn't something that could be trusted…he'd built the prosecution's case for them. They'd just have to look over the old court files. Everything was there, laid out for them.

The six had probably seen those documents, too. The mistrust in their eyes _burned._ They never brought it up with Rock and Roll, the subject was danced around or entirely avoided. Ignored, like an elephant in the room.

He could be thankful for that much, that the twins didn't know. It made him feel like a terrible person, to see a blessing in something like _that._

He wanted to apologize to them, but what right had he to do that? What right had he to their forgiveness? It was Blues' forgiveness that mattered, and he was dead. If he could save them, then he might have the right to ask.

He won't have earned it then, but asking would at least let them know he really was sorry.

Arguing them as objects in court may legally seem like an easier win, but the laws wouldn't change to preserve their rights as people. They would only serve to further restrict them. It'd start over again, like a cycle.

He couldn't call them objects, especially not now, not when he finally realized that Albert had been right all along. He'd been right all along, and it was far too late.

Albert's only response to all contacts by the media had been a form letter, sometimes accompanied by a tape, a transcript of a speech. The letter: a photocopied, 'I told you so,' and a familiar signature with the Albert W mostly legible and then trailing off into a few fast loops after the "i".

It was honestly a little surprising that even at this point, Albert hadn't stepped forward. Not on Light's behalf, he wouldn't expect his once-friend to give him the time of day, but on the bioroids' behalf. Even if he was against their continued production, this was still something that should have caught Albert's interest. He'd obviously been following it…

Or perhaps he was just so sickened after Blues, he lost all taste for fighting it.

The phone's jarring ring shook Dr. Light from his thoughts and he jumped slightly before calling out to Roll not to worry, he'd pick it up.

"Tom! Turn on your TV!" It was Devon, one of his lawyers.

Light blinked and flicked the TV on and was about to ask what channel, but stopped. He dropped the remote. "This is…"

"Someone leaked this to the press, politicians, activists, anyone who had any say in this. Have you checked your email?"

Not since the previous night.

"How could they have decided this? The trial's not even over!"

"We've been calling, we're stonewalled at the police station. They say they're not at liberty to discuss it. Try going higher up, military says we don't have the _security __clearance.__"_

Of course. They were trying to keep it hush-hush until the order was executed.

The order to end this entire ordeal, today.

The destruction order of the six hospital bioroids.

"What?" Roll exclaimed. Beside her, Rock had paled.

And turned, heading for the door.

"Rock, wait!" Roll cried, able to pick up his emotions.

He didn't stop, although he did grab his jacket from the hook by the door.

They hadn't been expecting any change of orders regarding the six bioroids, so when the call came down, it was a surprise. He was the highest ranked officer on duty, and it was his job to appear unruffled. He wasn't here to have an opinion, and he certainly wasn't here to express it.

But even so, with the orders here, he felt a bit _uneasy._ He understood that the only reason they'd taken to such measures was because they weren't being treated as people in the first place. But at the same time…they were made by animating corpses with technology. Surely machinery wasn't enough to complete a person. Besides, by law, they were objects, and like objects, they were to be destroyed.

Even without the trial.

It seemed a little more each day that the government was adhering to a "better to ask for forgiveness than permission" philosophy.

The order was still given, he knew the proper channels hadn't been gone through, but it was still his job, his duty, his livelihood on the line. And hurt feelings or no, they'd killed people.

He ended the call and turned to the others as he latched his radio back to his belt. He told them; it was time.

Was that a _smirk_ he caught on that other guard's lips?

How completely inappropriate. It made his stomach twist, to think that there were people that would be _celebrating_ this execution. Considering this tragedy's end a triumph. Mankind: 1; Bioroids: 0.

He would have glared at the man, told him to be professional, dammit, if he had any right to do that given what he was about to do. Yes, they were in the service, and it was other JSDF troops Elec had killed, but that didn't make that smirk any less inappropriate.

He felt like a complete hypocrite, because he honestly didn't know if he believed that the bioroids were what Dr. Light was claiming they were. He wasn't sure if they were really people or an eerily accurate facsimile, something cold and calculated, acting so as to evoke feelings from humans. It made him shudder.

He made his way to the controls regardless. He tried not to think too hard about what he was doing, tried not to let it become a blemish on his conscience. He entered in the code to fill the room housing the bioroids with a noxious gas. It was not something they could survive and they had no escape. It would be over, though not quickly for them. It was a painful way to go, but the only way to ensure they were completely destroyed. They'd probably incinerate the bodies and burn this place down to be safe.

The computer considered him for a moment, then returned with an error message. He did not have the proper access to initialize this function. Would he like to do something else? One of the other men came up to take a look.

His insides _burned._ Had…had he just been stabbed? He shivered and fell to his knees, even as the man behind him pulled the weapon from his back. That smirking soldier was standing over him, but he was outright smiling down at him now. He was holding a syringe in one hand, the last remnants of a chemical cocktail dripping from the needle.

The other guards opened fire, and some did hit him, but they didn't seem to do any damage. There was this strange noise whenever they hit him. A strange material was growing over his ears, metallic and golden. Antennae.

A bioroid.

He was a bioroid.

The guns were completely ineffective against his armor and as the soldier blacked out, he saw the bioroid lunge at one of the others with another syringe. His heart sank. None of them even stood a chance.

He tried to get out his sidearm, except he could already tell he didn't have the coordination to do that, let alone the strength to handle the recoil and fire it. He stopped when one of the ricocheting bullets hit him, dimly amazed that it barely hurt, lost in the burning sensation that had crept over his entire body, was letting him feel himself _change_.

The flow of blood stopped after half a second at most.

It should have made bile come to his throat, the knowledge that he was being changed into something alien, had been betrayed by someone he'd thought was one of his unit, even if a bit of a jerk... how long had he been a bioroid? Had they killed and replaced him?

A hand he didn't have the strength anymore to lift grasped at empty air, wanting to help his men, but the fight was already over. Here, at least. The guards from the rest of the building and troops from outside would be sent, he knew.

He tried to reach out again, and it was only after he had that he realized this new sense wasn't human, that it was a _good_ thing he couldn't feel some of his troops this way.

Not yet, at least. One of them came online as he watched: the nanites did need a few seconds to work, after all.

The bioroid—Metal—stood in the center of the room, fallen troops and discarded syringes around him, and peeled off the tattered remains of his uniform, stretched tight over armor and shredded by saw wheels set into his shoulders. The soldier could feel it when the bioroid scanned them, one by one, to make sure that they were alright.

When he piled them all into a corner, out of the way of any more bullets, it was sickening to find that he was _grateful_, that his emotions already weren't his own.

It was almost a relief when the nanites, after an order from the bioroid, put him to sleep. He could hope the nightmare would wait until the morning to resume.

It was _pouring_ rain. Which was actually fitting. It slowed traffic down, albeit harmlessly. At the rate it was coming down, though, there might be some flooding. He considered this to be a boon; even if it happened too late, leaving a nice reminder behind was good. A reminder of what they could do, what they commanded. They'd been patient long enough. They'd been nice long enough. It wasn't working. It should be working, it was the most effective strategy, but humans amazed them again and again with their capacity for cruelty, for illogic.

The humans had a saying, about fighting fire with fire. The idea, taken literally, was just ridiculous. But put into this context? When what should have been water to the fire extinguished nothing? They could have fire all they wanted, blasted right back at them. Let them choke on the taste of their own medicine.

He was on guard out here, in the middle of town, and he'd have been annoyed by the pouring rain if it wasn't for the fact that what he was guarding against was guaranteed to cross his path. All he had to do was wait.

There, footsteps, on the edge on even his hearing, even with the ability he had to filter out the rain's distortion. Footsteps too fast to be a human's. Nowhere near as fast as Quick's, though.

And a bioroids's aura, radiating distress.

Rock ran, as fast as he could without slipping, wishing he'd copied Time's ability, except not, because that would have meant fighting him, and that meant he'd be in danger now, too.

He had to stop them, at least long enough for Dr. Light, for someone to do _something_. Even if he got in trouble. Otherwise, what would he say to Roll? And Time, and Oil, and the other nephews and nieces?

Dr. Light would say it wasn't his fault, and look old, and that would perhaps be even worse.

Feeling that anxiety, that worry, that pain made Flash grimace. None of their kind liked witnessing pain, and the first impulse, the strongest desire, was to fix it. Right whatever was upsetting them. Except the only way to right this was to have to cause more pain first. Another sin to count against humanity for putting them in this position.

He moved like a ghost through the rain. It was an unnatural rain, of course, and the nanites causing it were carefully cloaking his movements. It was easy for him to dash out, use his ability to startle Rock, to knock him down. Not even that hard, just enough to stop him.

"Where are you going in such a rush?"

Rock stifled a cry as he landed: the blow itself wasn't hard, but the speed he'd been traveling at sent him half-skidding, half rolling, several feet before he was able to regain control. The sudden twisting wasn't good for his ankle, either, and he had to put it a little further out of alignment to get to his feet as fast as he could.

He'd been focusing almost all his attention on his body, the terrain and the water in order to safely travel that fast: it took him a moment to remember words, then another moment to remember what had just been said and decode it. "Ice, everyone..." He took another step, feeling woozy and realizing he must have retuned his balance without really noticing it, trying to run as fast as he could. He'd reached the city proper, but it was still so far to the special facility... Unless they'd moved them, he realized, and hoped not. He should use radio to call Roll, but Dr. Light would be worried and have to ask him to come back, and he couldn't. He'd call once he was there, so he'd know what to tell them, but he had to get there in time first.

Flash hesitated, almost winced when Rock went tumbling a bit harder than he'd anticipated. He'd seen video of his uncles fighting, but he hadn't taken the lack of armor into account. He was a lot lighter this way. He stepped in front of Rock, blocking his path. "You're surprised? Their fate was sealed the second you let the humans take them."

Rock shook his head, it was hard to find words. "You're one of," _the __children..._Right, he wasn't supposed to talk with nanites or scan them, not when he was fighting them, but he didn't want to fight this one. "Please, let me go, I have to try..." He shifted, bracing himself, not to fight but to start running again.

"I'm afraid I can not let you pass," Flash shrugged and shook his head.

There wasn't _time_ to argue, so Rock took off. He was smaller, which meant less mass, less friction: that would have been a bigger advantage if friction didn't also mean traction, and in this rain? Still, he had a map of these streets, and he wasn't armored, so he should be able to lose him. Since he couldn't spare the breath to talk, he supposed it would be okay to send, '_You __have __to __stay __away, __they __just __let __the __information __out __like __that, __they __must __be __hoping __someone __will __come. __At__ least __there __will __be __trouble __if__ they __hurt __me, __but __if __they're __attacked __by __someone __strange...__' _They couldn't be blamed for defending themselves, even if it was a trap.

For an instant, Flash disappeared from Rock's senses. Even his nanites returned with nothing. Then something was slamming into him from the side and the smaller bioroid went tumbling again and Flash was standing ahead of him again, about the same distance away, frowning. "I wasn't intending on heading _there._" This child seemed much more sure of himself than Time or Oil had been. He'd had much, much more time to learn and grow.

"Then why are you stopping me?" Rock cried, frustrated. "You can't want them to die!" Suddenly, he was so frustrated he was almost _angry_, and his hands curled into fists. "They're my brothers, and... I have to go!" Rock glared at him, demanding that he either give him an explanation for this or get out of his way.

Flash's countenance softened for a moment, but he did not stand down. "They're my family, too. Right now, it's most important that I delay you. It's nothing personal." Not revenge, nothing vindictive. He sounded like he was talking about a _job._

"It's nothing... Of course it's personal! And even if it wasn't..." Rock shook his head, because he really was angry now, and he knew he'd never find good words when he was angry. '_Roll..._' "Please," he said, looking up at him with big eyes (bioroids had those instincts too), "Can't..." Could Flash explain as they ran, maybe, and then if they had to fight at least they would be closer? No, that was no good, he wouldn't go for it when it was just to Rock's advantage.

Did one of his nephews really just expect him to wait here while his brothers were in danger, and maybe other nephews and soldiers were fighting and getting hurt?

"No, really, we can't." Flash shook his head. He'd remained closed off to Rock the entire encounter, not open to any sort of nanite communication. It was hard for Rock to even read his mood. "It's really better if we stay here." The longer, the better.

"No, I want to rescue them too, but when people are fighting, everyone's in danger. I can't let you do this." The download finished. '_Thanks,__Roll_.' The other bioroid was only a few feet away: he sprang forward, hard enough to knock him to the ground, gathering the disruption nanites he'd just made in his left hand and shoving them into the other bioroid's face.

_Flash Stopper. _

Oh, so it wasn't a speed ability: it sort of froze not just the nanites, but disrupted human brain waves a bit. That _really _wasn't good for them, but Flash was unconscious, so he guessed he'd leave lecturing him to Roll, when Flash woke up.

He'd already send his current location to Roll, when he requested the design of the nanites he'd used to take down the others, so he put Flash under the only overhang he could find and took off running again.

Roll was yelling at him to at least grow armor, but he didn't have enough minerals. And he needed to focus on _hurrying_.

He hoped he wasn't too late to save anyone: it wasn't just his brothers that were in danger anymore.


	2. Blade's Edge

_Sorry about the delayed update, but Black Friday happened and I'm one of the unfortunate souls that works in retail. Mandatory 10-hour shifts, anyone? I'm just glad it's over. Anyway, on to chapter two, in which Rock finds out just how sharp Metal's blades are._

_Mega Man is copyrighted to Capcom._

_This is a collaboration between Haruna Rei and Laryna6 on fanfiction dot net._

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><p>He expected to be stopped when he got to the facility, but when he peered through the window at the gatehouse, he didn't see anyone. "Hello?" Rock asked, and realized that he'd turned his sensors all the way on after the attack, because he felt someone fallen behind the counter.<p>

Not an ordinary human, but not one of the nephews, either. They felt like... Inwardly wincing and making a note to apologize later, he tore the door open, trying not to damage the frame.

Kneeling next to the man, he touched his cheek. Yes, those were nanites, almost exactly the same as the ones his brothers had given the patients and staff at the hospitals. The syringe left on the desk would have been a clue for a human, but for him it was redundant. Although it was a little nice of them to make it so obvious, so the paramedics, when they came, or other people did, would know what was wrong and wouldn't worry it was other things.

He winced, realizing that they hadn't done anything about the pain sensors. Yes, pain was an alarm system, and bad things happened when it was shut off, but it was supposed to let humans know so that they could do something about something that was wrong. Giving them nanites, and then letting them feel pain when those nanites did exactly what they were supposed to? Even though the nanites put him to sleep, that still didn't make it right. Their nanites were starting to configure, and the human brain did a lot of thinking while they were asleep: did they want the poor person to think that nanites, the way they were now, were bad and painful? Wasn't that counterproductive as well as a bit mean?

Well, they weren't Roll: maybe they just hadn't thought it that far through, Rock told himself, soothing the sleeper's pain. He wanted to just query their memory, to know if they had seen who did this, but that would be rude. No, he should wake them up, see if he could help them be well enough that they could call in an alarm... Except, if an alarm was called in, then more troops would come, and the nephews might do this to them, too.

Rock had his brothers to protect, and getting in the middle of a big fight, trying to protect the humans and nephews from each other, when he couldn't even grow armor? He wouldn't last very long.

So he tried to make the human comfortable, but he didn't even call the normal emergency number before running out the door and down the road to the main facility.

It was more than just that guard. Everywhere Rock passed, there were unconscious personnel. At least they'd been placed out of the way, where they'd be less likely to get stepped on or shot by a rogue bullet. Every one of them was asleep, and every one of them was infected with the nanites.

They were incapacitating the guards rather than killing them, which should be a good thing, but to change them this much, and against their will? He had to stop to check them, make sure they were okay. Their pain sensors were left on, too, even while asleep. But they didn't seem to be physically hurt. Mentally, they would be confused when they woke up. Rock bit his lip. He had to find the nephews before more troops came, before more humans were injected like this. To do that, he needed to figure out where his brothers were being kept.

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><p>Something was changed. The chamber was fairly soundproofed, even to their enhanced ears, but they'd heard something that sounded like a scuffle outside. That or the soldiers startled each other. None had any recollection of being human, but talking to one for five minutes made it clear that their senses were dull in comparison. They could be snuck up on so easily, startled and subdued with little effort.<p>

That's what made the hospital takeovers so simple, after all.

They all stilled, though, picking up on one another's unease.

With a shifting and a clicking sound, the lock on the door began to be undone. The seal on the door was airtight to prevent any nanites from escaping—the paranoia about infection upon contact was still going strong—and it hissed as it was broken. Six pairs of eyes focused on it with a mixture of curiosity and apprehension.

They preferred to limit human contact to a bare minimum. They liked the guards better when they stayed on the other side of that door.

What was actually on the other side sent a shock through the six first-generation bioroids, even before their visitor came into view.

Elec barely recognized him, even knowing the base frequency. They'd let their children choose their own names, but they'd wanted a way of knowing all of them, so they would never be without an identity. This was one of his, the ones he'd sealed behind that door and fought to protect, even _killed_ to protect.

They all just stood there and gaped at the child for a second. His frequency was unfamiliar to Bomb; he could tell by looking it wasn't one of his children, but he felt the recognition coiling around Elec. The immense relief, to see that it was true. His child was not dead. Likely, the others were not, either. A load off all of their shoulders. And a new concern to take its place.

"Are you insane? What are you doing here?" None of the six were armored, none of them could form their weapons. They'd been kept weak so they'd be easier to control. It was obvious to see that Metal was armed, was able to protect himself. Did he intend to try to shield all of them? Whatever had enticed him to break in was undoubtedly a ploy, a trap set to lure the children in. He'd fallen for it, hook, line, and sinker. If they captured him, he'd be taken away, and there would be nothing his father and uncles could do to stop it.

"The humans tried to kill you just now. I stopped them. The others will come to get you out of here soon." He looked at Elec, and now Elec could place him, although it was hard to associate this disciplined fighter who was able to resist the urge to curl up against him with the child whose thoughts had mostly been a demand of _payattentiontome_. "I need to handle the rest of the building, keep any of them from getting this far." Since the elders were unarmored. Metal's ears kept twitching, keeping track of all sorts of channels and contacts, like the antennae Elec had before he was captured.

Fire couldn't help smirking a bit approvingly, even if he didn't like the idea of Metal putting himself in danger. He glanced back at Elec; it must be hard to reconcile Metal with the baby he remembered. He'd grown up. They'd all grown up.

"They'll be here soon," Metal promised them, determinedly resisting the instinct that said to stay here, with the father he'd missed, to protect them since they were kin and defenseless and the humans had kept them starved.

No, the way to protect them was to keep the humans _away_ from them, and he needed to get back to work. He could catch up later, once they were back at the nest. "It won't be long." He could have given a rather precise estimate: the humans had wanted the destruction to come as an absolute surprise to everyone, so they hadn't been able to reinforce the defenses in advance, not without giving it away to the watchdog organizations, who would have alerted the media and thus the bioroids. Of course, they'd had no idea how deeply they were compromised.

Of course, he couldn't send any of this to even his father, not yet, not until all of them were scanned to make sure Dr. Light hadn't done anything to their minds. So he had to leave, running out of there after a brief nod and thought of apology, syringes in his hands.

Flash was no longer broadcasting: unlike all their fathers, he hadn't even lasted long enough to upload data of his fight with Rock. Presuming they had fought: what else could have taken him off the air?

He had to deal with the humans so they couldn't sneak past him, get in here while he was fighting the second eldest.

Likewise, the six elders had to resist the urge to follow him, to guide and protect those that were younger and less experienced. As they were now, they were absolutely defenseless. It'd be best for them to stay put.

They remembered, after all. The places they'd made for their children, trying to keep them safe. How they'd put themselves at risk and not let the children help.

* * *

><p>Rock tried to hurry through the facility, but he had to have his senses up all the way to detect other nephews, so he kept feeling the guards, and feeling that they were hurting, and then he couldn't help going to where they were and fixing that and trying to make them comfortable. This was also where they were keeping the people from Elec's hospital, too, so it was pretty big. It wasn't just guards: at least this was after visiting hours, but there were still cleaning people, nurses and other support staff here.<p>

The bioroid had broken open one of the doors to an area where the quarantined humans were, since there was a staff member in there, so the humans there were the first people he talked to.

They'd moved the changed person to a bed, and were trying to comfort her, but they couldn't do anything, not with the abilities they might have had as bioroids locked, except for the senses.

Guilt radiated from one of them, and Rock could even pick up why— they now knew what it was like to feel that someone was hurting and not be able to do anything about it.

The nephew hadn't attacked any of the patients, or even threatened them. He was just moving very quickly, infecting any human he came across. Their nanites were calibrated to incapacitate their victim, though Rock could tell through a scan that the locks could very easily be removed. Later. Not now, when having too many people moving around was too dangerous. He asked the patients to please stay inside here. His worry radiated off him, and it was surprising to the newly turned, to feel it so acutely. The actions of the original six were starting to make terrible sense.

They would go away over time, anyway. This version was very close to the one they had used at the hospitals. So the people who had worked in the facility the hospital people were kept it might be kept in that exact same facility now.

It was the same kind of idea of what was appropriate his brothers had.

All he could do was reassure them. What else could he say? He needed to keep moving. They did calm some despite how strange this sort of communication felt to them. He hoped they'd adjust quickly, for their own sakes.

No matter where he went, there were newly-turned bioroids downed. That was why that other nephew—Flash—was slowing him, Rock realized. To give this nephew time to work. He needed to hurry before something really bad happened.

He would move faster if he didn't keep stopping to soothe them, to find at least one more to put them with, but he _couldn't_ do that. Not when they were hurting, and if he turned off the sense that they were broadcasting their discomfort on, he wouldn't be able to sense his nephews.

It occurred to him that this might have been intentional. It had to have been hard for that nephew to leave these ones alone and upset this way; he really was in a hurry. Whatever timer he was working on, making it to the finish line before he ran out of time was more imperative than making sure these ones were as comfortable as they could be. Leaving his goal undone must be far more traumatic than the cries of the newly turned. Plus, leaving them like that meant that Rock would be distracted.

Unless his nephew didn't care. Unless his nephew was just that angry with them, for letting his father and the others be killed. For being in the building where that would happen and doing nothing, for being part of the species that had tried to do it.

Maybe the notice itself was a trap? Lying was hard enough to understand, but lying about killing people? Still, it was better to think that that way than that they had really tried to kill them. No: if this were a trap, the humans wouldn't have been beaten so easily. He would have run into _someone _who was still fighting, if only because the nephew would have started to run out of syringes.

Somehow, even though there was too much interference from all these limited human bioroids to be sure, he knew that his brothers were okay. His nephews would have done more than just this if it'd been otherwise.

There were sounds coming from ahead. Soft noises and padded footfalls. It was the nephew, pulling a downed hospital worker into one of the side rooms, out of harm's way. The antennae over his ears were flicking every so often, shifting position to help get a clear signal. He wouldn't normally even have to do that, but with all these incapacitated bioroids, all the signals were jumbled. Trying to hear a specific voice was like trying to hear a conversation from across a crowded room. He tried to quiet them, if only so he could _hear_ better.

He knew his uncle was near, nearer than he would like, but this was the last of them. There were two in this room, so at least they'd be quieter than the ones he'd had to stash alone.

Rock didn't know what the nephew's weapon was, except the syringes. Maybe just the syringes? No, that was probably too much to hope for. He quieted all his signals and stopped actively scanning. If he could get behind him, without his nephew knowing he was there... but no, there were too many people here: if it did become a longer fight, they might get hurt. He wanted to end this _soon_, but even with the other nephew's weapon, he couldn't chance something going wrong. "Excuse me?" he said, and sent.

The nephew paused in his ministrations, then set the infected human down and straightened. He'd felt the probe, though it wasn't quite a full touch, not like he with his siblings and cousins, or his father and other uncles. Like strangers meeting for the first time. He turned slowly to look at Rock. His armor was mostly red, but what was most unsettling about him were his eyes. They were like blood. His mouth and nose were covered by more armor, and the entire ensemble coupled with his gaze was quite intimidating. He'd frightened more than one human, looking like that.

Rock wanted to say that it wasn't hard to make them not hurt, in case he didn't know how, but he shouldn't upload a design to an enemy, even if it was an easy one (or Rock thought so, having come up with it himself in a few seconds of analysis), and he really didn't want to encourage doing things to people against their will. Oh, thank goodness: "Roll says my father already got a court order," thanks to the lawyer, "And I'll stay with my brothers, so you can go, really. If there's more fighting, it will just put more people in danger."

He wished he could believe that would work, even though all of it was true.

"Your 'father' should not have needed a court order to begin with. Don't you understand what's going on here?" Metal tilted his head, scanning Rock. He wasn't even in armor. Was he not being taken seriously? Or had he rushed out so quickly, he hadn't the resources to do so? What did he expect to accomplish like that?

"We got, well, someone sent on an anonymous message that they were going to kill my brothers. I didn't know if it was true or not, but I had to come."

Metal nodded; he understood that feeling. But still, "By their own laws, the destruction order should not have been issued. Don't you see it? Regardless of what that father of yours may spew, the fact remains that the humans with the power _don__'__t __want __us __around._ You should leave. My father, my uncles…there is nothing you can do for them."

Rock shook his head and frowned at his nephew a little. Couldn't he feel that there was no way Rock was leaving? "They're my brothers too, you know. And if I'm here, I can send what I see to Roll. And... Really..." Rock looked a little embarrassed for him, perhaps even a bit disappointed. "I mean, if bioroids keep doing things like this to humans, then it's fair, isn't it? If they don't want us around. _You're _upset because they did things like this to my brothers, after all, and now you're changing and limiting them and thinking you can do things to them just to make a point. You could have just knocked them out, if you absolutely had to fight, you know. Doing something that can't be undone, even my brothers couldn't undo it..." Not even Roll. "It's just mean. And when people are being mean, it doesn't matter who started it. It has to stop."

"We tried being nice. Starting with the Eldest, we were _nothing __but __nice._ They treated us like monsters, like a plague. Like something that wanted to rip their throats out, even if their fears were unfounded. Is it wrong that we gave their fears real ground? We already tried playing nice. Humanity doesn't understand 'nice', they're only willing to think on their own terms. I'm done being 'nice'." Not when nice meant your family was killed just because of what could be. Killed for paranoia.

"The thing is... even if they did limit my brothers because they were afraid..." Rock, Rock had begun to understand being afraid. When he'd fought to stop his brothers, he'd been afraid, for them and everyone. "Then isn't what you're doing... Aren't you saying that they were right? Because if it was wrong for them to do that to my brothers, then it's wrong for you to do this to them. So, if you're claiming that it's okay, for you to do this to them? Then I can't agree with you. At all. Because that would be saying that what happened to my brothers was okay, and it wasn't. It's not right for people to be hurt, it just isn't: don't you know that?" Rock honestly wondered, and perhaps he kind of hoped that Metal didn't. Because if he didn't understand something that a bioroid should understand, just as easy as getting their body to breathe, then hopefully he'd figure it out soon and they could stop this.

"You've come to this conclusion because you're using a failed theorem." Metal shook his head. "You're assuming that if we lay down our arms and stop, that the humans will stop. They will not. They have pushed us to this," No matter how wrong it was, no matter how much Metal _hated_ having to do this, what else could he do? "Even after our parents were captured, we sat back and waited. We watched and we waited. We put our trust in humanity, even though they'd already thrown it back in our faces. And what did they do? They ordered them killed! I am through trying to "negotiate", through with trying to find a peaceful outing! Such a thing does not exist!"

"But... The fighting has to stop sometime." Did Metal want to keep fighting forever? "I'm sorry. I captured my brothers, your father, so that it would be over and everyone would be safe, and I guess it wasn't that easy, but that doesn't mean I can give up on protecting them. One of the others asked me to not come here, and... I can't do that, they're my brothers too. So I know why you feel like you have to try something, but hurting people, especially when you don't even have to, isn't right. It just isn't. And I have to make sure that my brothers are okay." And you are in my way. "So if you won't stop... doing things to people that they don't want and leave, then I'll have to stop you."

Metal was silent. From Rock's perspective, it made sense. Hurting when it was unnecessary was wrong. Rock couldn't see how it was necessary, why they were doing this, but Metal also couldn't tell him that. He couldn't trust this uncle or his aunt. He did not trust Dr. Light. They proved that they could not keep the six safe, even if they followed all of humanity's laws. Rock hadn't seen his brothers yet, hadn't seen how they'd been _starved_ just to keep them weak. They'd been through enough: he fully intended to liberate them, no matter the cost. If he had to dirty himself in the process, then so be it. "I can't let you walk around in here." Not when the others would be arriving. He had to stop Rock here, now, before he got any further.

"I'm sorry," his uncle said, looking sad, apologetic and just a bit tired. He'd done this before, with his brothers and Flash. "Is there someplace nearby without many people?"

That was actually met with some approval from Metal. He didn't want to get anyone else caught up in the fighting, either. "…Come with me." He turned and headed further down the hallway.

Rock nodded, a bit relieved that Metal was being helpful about this. He was worried, though. Even if he drained his bones of minerals, he wouldn't be able to grow good enough armor to be worth the effort, and he'd halfway exhausted himself getting here. It was a good thing Roll had made sure he got better at healing, but from all the sharp pointy bits, he could guess that Metal's preferred weapon was something like Cut's. When he followed his nephew into a storage room, he told him, "It's not your fault there wasn't enough warning to find minerals for armor, okay?" So don't blame yourself if I get hurt.

Metal inwardly flinched. He knew he'd still blame himself for it. It wasn't his fault that Rock didn't have armor, that much was true, but it would still be him that swung the blade. He knew what he was getting into when he came, though. He'd led them to a cafeteria, but all the tables were pushed to the walls; it wasn't in use.

Rock was healthy, but he wasn't armed. Metal's condition was more in line with how Rock was before heading into his father's hospital. Prime and overloaded with minerals. He flicked a wrist and a razor-sharp round metal blade appeared in his hand.

He could feel the second eldest trying to scan him now that the fight started, and it was interesting that it was just for general condition, trying to keep track of where he was, and so on. Nothing deeper. He'd been warned to be careful of Roll; she might be very good at scanning, but she wasn't here. Although, she might be watching this through Rock, just as he was sending this to the others. He wouldn't make the same mistake as Flash: picking him up had forced Air to make a detour, so he wasn't here yet, even if the two who were on the other guard shifts had already made it and were guarding their fathers.

Without the storm to worry about, Rock was much faster, dodging the metal disc easily enough. Unlike how he had with Flash. Without armor, his uncle would have to pay a lot of attention to dodging. And he could take many more hits than Rock.

Metal didn't waste any time, either. No sooner had he thrown one blade than two appeared in his hand. The amount of resources he must be expending was unreal. Of course, the blades remained intact after he threw them; like Cut, they were reusable. He was littering the room with spare ammunition for himself.

It'd be dangerous for Rock to try to pick one up carelessly; without armor, one wrong move would slice his hand wide open. With Metal on him like this, he didn't have time to even try using them against his nephew.

Even rolling in order to dodge was dangerous, since Metal could throw one to intercept his path. At least it was much, much easier for him to dodge now than it had been when fighting Cut: it might be the practice as much as the lower momentum making it easier to change directions quickly.

A bigger problem was that holding a shot disrupted his nanites as well, without the armor containing it. He didn't like how much time this was taking, since delay was bad for all sorts of reasons, but Rock waited until he had a pretty good idea of how Metal moved before using Flash's weapon and running straight for him, gathering the disruption nanites in his hand.

Metal saw what he was doing. He wasn't surprised or angry, just a look of calm comprehension. He materialized a blade in his other hand, the one he hadn't been using to throw and swung at Rock once he was almost ready to fire.

Rock had charged with his other shoulder first, but when he was hit, he couldn't help clasping his shoulder when he fell to the ground, crying out. Or rather, touching the nanite-inhibiting hand to the _stump_.

Normally, even a wound like that would have stopped bleeding right away, and he could have gotten up, grabbed his arm, reattached it, and tried again.

_ Ow._ Was this how humans felt, whenever they got wounded? It took way too long for him to isolate the pain signals and cut them off closer to the spine. As for the blood? He winced: now he was _really _low on iron and other minerals. And Roll and Dr. Light were worried.

Metal actually stepped back, his eyes widening as he flinched. Not because of the blood, or because of the sight of Rock's dismembered arm, but because of how much _pain_ he'd just put his uncle through. And had he just—_crap._Rock could feel Metal scanning him, this time a bit more thoroughly, confirming what Rock just did to himself. But the bleeding was already slowing; the inhibition nanites were wearing off. The younger bioroid hesitated, but there was already another blade gripped in his hand. He was watching Rock, waiting. Wanting to see if he wanted to stop now.

Rock was taking deep breaths, replacing the oxygen, as he pushed himself into a sitting position with his intact arm and reached for the other one. He didn't want to heal over the wound when he could actually heal it instead.

When it reattached, finally, and he was able to heal the joint, he breathed in again, then forced himself back to mostly-normal respiration (bioroids gathered more oxygen, especially boosted like he was). "I'm okay," he said, and lunged up and to the side, heading for the tables.

Metal actually did feel really bad, he hadn't meant to actually cut his arm off. It was easy to forget how fragile their bodies could be when they weren't in armor; any sparring he'd ever done was against his fully armed brothers or cousins. Hesitant as he was to hurt Rock any further; there was blood all over the floor now, but he was even more loathe to actually let Rock pass him. He dashed off after Rock, slinging blade after blade at him.

Easy enough to dodge, especially now that it wasn't just his nanites that were boosting his performance. He hadn't noticed this before: it was as though things had _slowed __down_, closer to what Dr. Light had called machine time, but it didn't have anything to do with his nanites. They were still processing data at the same speed: it was his brain that had authorized a mode of cognition that was burning through energy _fast_. Too fast for the amount of energy stored in sugars to be adequate, and he didn't have much body fat: if he kept doing this for too long, his neurons would even burn through those precious Omega-3s.

By contrast, the adrenaline boost was negligible and it was a good thing he was used to compensating for his body going at different speeds relative to his thoughts and normal mode.

Metal was trying harder to hit him now: Rock understood, really. But his body had decided that it _really_didn't want to get hit, thanks, and Metal was too slow.

It wasn't for lack of trying on Metal's part. He noticed that Rock seemed to have sped up, but he couldn't pinpoint why without doing a much more intimate scan, and he wasn't going to open that channel. That was far too dangerous. He moved, trying to cut Rock off as he dashed to the side, and brought his blades down again.

As he did, when his arms were extended, Rock used Flash's weapon. Metal just finished growing those blades - it would take precious seconds for his nanites to bring up enough minerals without stripping them from his armor and regrow them. Flash's weapon would elongate that. And now he was paused while he was half-lunged forward, off-balance, and Rock was running on the tables while Metal was still on ground level.

He started firing the disruptor nanites as he ran towards Metal, as fast as he could, even converting the healing nanites that were dealing with the buildup of fatigue poisons.

Metal was blindsided by Rock's shots. They slammed into him full-force, and he found himself being thrown aside, tumbling into the tables. He made a pained noise, wanting to cry out but stifling himself at the last moment. It scared him more than it actually hurt—his armor protected him well—but Rock's disruption nanites still penetrated through and he felt a numbing sensation spread through his side. He struggled to get back to his feet, his body shaking as the sensation spread. No, he could not allow Rock to pass…he _had_ to fight.

"I'm sorry," he heard, and felt, as things faded. "I'm sorry-" Rock said again, but this time it trailed off in a yawn, even as Rock dropped down and kicked Metal's legs out from under him. Most of the fighting moves in movies weren't very realistic—actually, that was the only kind of movie with fighting in it Rock and Roll could tolerate watching, when it clearly wasn't real and no one was getting hurt—but apparently that leg sweep thing worked. At least for bioroids.

And that was good, because with Metal dealt with his body just decided to crash now that the emergency was over, and he didn't really have enough nanites left to argue with it.


	3. Exchanging Custody

_ "Laryna6 here. We'd decided that since Classic and Megamix 'verses were fair game, and this was an AU of the same general type as EXEverse, why not draw on EXE as well as Classic? Also, the answer to the question of, "What is cuter than Rock?" was obviously, "Two of him," so why not go one better? Many thanks to Araya Miste, who generously offered to check the characterization of the EXE cast for us, and also provided some lines for Laika & someone else who will be showing up in the Recovery version of the third game._

_The role of this story arc in the larger fic is to start to make it clear to the bioroids that they're really dead wrong about humanity. They're children with limited experience, and they don't want to think that they're like the people who do the bad things - this kind of thing usually leads to a 'we're not like them, we're not mean to them, so we're better than they are' in groups that suffer because of some difference from the general population. Obviously they don't want to think that they're like the people who hurt their parents, even though (and in a sense especially because) they're doing a lot of the same things. _

_ I thought that we should probably repeat that the opinions of the characters are not necessarily those of the authors, and this includes ideas of bioroid superiority. Yes, it is possible to argue with elves in this universe, and they'll generally come out of it looking pretty small-minded and irrational, ideally, because they're children, running on primitive us-versus-them, and generally don't have enough life experience to know what the hell they're talking about._

_ So far, all the children have grown up together, so they share a culture. They have no idea how to deal with someone coming from a different culture/upbringing, as you can see with Rock. Even telepathy can't solve the problem of Divided By A Common Language. _

_ As someone with a communication disability, the fact that no two people will ever truly understand each other, that communication is imperfect and the person you're talking to can hear, "the sky is red" no matter how clearly you shout that the sky is blue is something I (Laryna6) constantly have to keep in mind in order to figure out how to make myself understood, and it's something that's really not talked about in the general population and fiction the way it should be. On top of the various reasons why humans repress our instincts, the fact the young bioroids don't really know how to communicate with others anywhere near as well as they think they can is really going to kick them in the teeth. They've got six months of (very sheltered) life experience, teenage bodies and superpowers. Dangerous combination. Fun, too."_

_ Rockman and all related characters/paraphernalia is copyright to Capcom._

* * *

><p>There were voices. Rock came online slowly, his systems doing an assessment of his physical condition as the nanites that regulated his cognitive processes booted up. Someone had propped him up against the wall. They were speaking to him, tilting his head. He felt something touch his lips. He blinked, his optics taking a moment to focus on the glass of juice being held to his lips for him to drink. There were several things—IVs—attached to one of his arms. He took the glass with his own hand, gratefully, then looked up with wide, curious eyes. His general broadcast state could be summed up by "?" He could sense that this was another bioroid, but he didn't feel like one of the children. One of the turned, then?<p>

There was a child with the man, too. So young, he couldn't be more than a year or two old, but he was a bioroid, too. Instead of the quiet reserve that Rock had grown accustomed to from the turned people, the child was quivering with energy, curiosity. He could sense that he was excited, delighted, just so, so happy to be here and to be _helping._ The baby was focusing his nanites all over Rock, repairing the damage he sustained during the fight with Metal. The baby was healing him.

Of course, he realized. That was why he and Roll had been made from children: their brains and bodies were more adaptable. His brothers had locked down most bioroid abilities in the turned, except healing themselves and the sort of broadcast contact that let them feel each other's presence and soothed loneliness, but Dr. Light had tried to lock down his brothers' abilities.

Of course the youngest children would be the first to find ways around those locks. And this man was... the child's father, he could feel it even without checking their genes. There was a constant murmur along the channel between them, the child's excitement and need for attention and his father's reassurance, guidance. Telling him that he was doing very, very well, for his first time healing someone.

It was only because Rock was used to it being there that he could taste the near-desperate worry underlying the man's emotions. The child had no idea it was there, even as the man touched the child's hair protectively, although he didn't try to pull him away from Rock. "Dr. Hikari," he introduced himself. "We met earlier," when Rock had checked on the recently-turned nurse in their ward, "But I didn't introduce myself. I was the chief of bioroid research at TUH." Tokyo University Hospital—Elec's. He was one of the defendants in the case Dr. Light was bringing.

"And this is my son, Saito." He smiled down at him, and the boy made a bright happy sound in response to that fondness. The love there seemed too genuine for him to see this as just a test, but why had he followed Rock? Why had he put his son in danger like this? They were still in the cafeteria: that was where he'd gotten the juice. Metal was still here.

"I'm Rock," though it was doubtful that Dr. Hikari didn't know. Rock smiled softly at Saito, sent out feelings of gratitude toward the child. Let him know he was impressed to see him doing this so well. He resisted the urge to shift position; it wasn't good to upset an IV. Instead, he looked back to Dr. Hikari. "Thank you, for helping me, but…" But it's dangerous here, for you and for your son. "There will be others coming, and they'll be worried since I defeated Metal. It's not safe, you should be hiding."

Rock glanced over at his nephew, assessed him. Metal was motionless, still shut down from the inhibiting nanites. He'd stay that way for a few hours. He didn't look too terrible, but there was underlying pain and even while he slept, Rock could feel the horror creeping through Metal's dreams, the feeling that he failed. The fear that his parent wouldn't be around when he got up.

Dr. Hikari shrugged: what could you do? "He felt you. If he doesn't get tired out, I'll never be able to get him to sleep. And I'd rather he sleep through... anything else." Rock could tell that wasn't all of it, not by a long shot, but Dr. Hikari was also better at concealing his thoughts than the other turned, even though he clearly didn't know how to _not_ broadcast his emotional state. Roll had thought that might happen, since they were locked up like this. Their minds would instinctively reach out for the contact they needed, and ignore any orders from the conscious mind to shut it down. Not when they needed it like water, although most of the man's attention was wrapped up around the child, constantly querying his health.

If the child was turned, too, then that meant he'd been sick. Elec's hospital did have a pediatric ward. The child wasn't hiding anything, was broadcasting everything openly. He didn't have the fully-developed brain of an adult human, so he was a baby both ways. He didn't have the self-control yet, but he did have curiosity and drive. He was adorable. "I'm sorry, it must be hard for him here," Hard for everyone, to be stuck here like this. A wave of guilt passed through him, but he cut off that portion of his emotional state before the child could catch wind of it. The IVs were full of nutrients and minerals, particularly iron. He was already feeling more alert, more energized. The juice helped, too.

"Still, you two should go back. I'm really grateful, but I don't want you to be caught up in this." He was so sorry that they had to be in the middle of this. A cold realization was settling into the back of his mind: if they really did try to kill his brothers without going through the proper channels, what would they have done with these poor people?

"Actually, he's doing well," Dr. Hikari said, and his smile was hard to read. Fondness and sadness were only part of it. "And... this one is Elec's, I think." Probably. The body had been Japanese, at least. "I can't bring him back to the ward," not just out of consideration: he was fairly certain that he physically could not pick the bioroid up. It wasn't the weight, it was a prohibition. At least Saito didn't have a problem being around him, but Saito had never even considered hurting or manhandling a bioroid. "So I'll stay here, for now, and keep an eye on him."

Elec's. One of the children that was sealed into that room. Rock's eyes lingered on him. He felt…sad. Sad that this was how he was meeting these children. Sad that they viewed him the way they did. They were family. They shouldn't be fighting.

Rock stood up slowly, testing his balance before gently pulling the IVs out himself. He was used to medical tests, used to being injected and cut open. The needles did hurt slightly, but the holes closed up immediately and disappeared along with the pain.

"At this point, it probably would be better to stay put." Since Rock would be moving around again. The nephews were after him, not the others in the building. "He'll be okay, but he won't wake up for a while." Rock wasn't sure how he felt about the idea of the authorities getting a hold of one of the second-generation bioroids. Part of him hoped that Metal somehow escaped before then, but if he did wake up, Dr. Hikari and his son…well, they wouldn't be in danger from Metal, at least. But if a fight broke out in the room? If Rock got this over with quickly, it'd be done before his nephew had the chance to wake.

Dr. Hikari nodded, and Rock wondered why he still wore glasses when he couldn't possibly need them anymore. Except, perhaps, for the sake of having something familiar. "Don't worry, we'll be fine." But others might need Rock's help. Rock managed to feel, just for a second, that Dr. Hikari wanted him gone. Well, that made sense: other bioroids probably wouldn't regard turned humans as threats, so Saito might actually be in more danger as long as Rock was here. He guessed that was it.

He glanced back at the two of them again, unable to contain his worry, but decided that they were considerably safer than many others in the building. He needed to get to his brothers. He sent another message of thanks to both of them before moving out of the room and running down the hall.

Yuichiro waited until the running footsteps became harder to make out (even though he was certain his hearing wasn't as sensitive as an unlocked bioroid's), before letting out a sigh of relief and hugging Saito. "There, now." Wasn't that fun? Perhaps Haruka was right, that he was born to be a doctor. Although after all this, he'd understand if Netto never wanted anything to do with the medical profession.

Saito babbled happily in his arms, and Yuichiro thought of tapping him on the nose and telling him that since he could understand words, he really should start _using_ them, since his mother and even his twin still couldn't speak babble, but he was really no good at scolding or disciplining Saito.

That was the problem, wasn't it, he thought as he carefully placed Saito against Metal, in the same place Rock had been curled when he'd found them. He wanted to try to position Metal, make sure those jagged shoulder guards went nowhere near Saito, but even thinking about repositioning him made him have to focus in order to keep himself from cringing and letting Saito pick up his distress.

Another reason he was fairly sure this was Elec's was that the restraint seemed to recognize Metal by his frequency—he hadn't had any trouble picking up Rock. But Elec wouldn't have wanted any of them, _especially _him, near his own children.

He understood.

It would be safer if he backed away, so he wasn't just hit across the room when Metal woke up, but even though Saito could heal far better than he could, he had to stay close, just in case Metal curled around Saito in his sleep and those serrated edges went anywhere near his son.

It was hard not to be overprotective. Saito was almost two now, and he had spent all of that time save three months very aware of how much danger his son was in.

It took a minute, but Metal stirred. His scans came online and initialized before he even moved. Saito giggled. When the bioroid finally opened his eyes, he knew that there were two people there. His eyes widened when he realized it was one of the locked bioroids, not one of his brothers. Not one of his cousins. And his uncle was nowhere around.

_What __the__… _Metal shifted and straightened, careful to keep the child away from the bladed parts of his armor, even if the toddler was reaching up toward him, using his nanites to say hello. He surmised that the older bioroid was the child's father; their link was constantly humming with query and feedback. Like his had been with Elec's when he was a newborn. Thinking of that made him want to return to where his father was. He looked between the father and child cautiously. His eyes squinted and under that armor, his brow was furrowed, puzzled. 'Why did you do this?' he asked, via nanites.

"Because... there is something I must beg you for," the changed human murmured, and his nanites conveyed _desperation,__hope-for-child_ with as much clarity as any of his brothers could manage, even though his ability to send words was locked. His father and the others hadn't wanted them getting messages out. The man's head was bowed, eyes closed tight behind those glass-and-wire things, and his neck only bent deeper as he waited for Metal to speak.

Metal's status went very quickly from caution to confusion to derision. He shifted to a sitting position, but didn't push Saito away, or even discourage the child's demands for attention. The baby was curious and Metal let him query some things, though he didn't let the child pry deeply. He looked Dr. Hikari over and shook his head. "You want me to remove the nanites?"

The human's head jerked up, and Metal could feel pure terror. "Don't! There's no life support equipment here, I can't heal," not others, "He'll die! He'll die without them!"

Metal was startled by the father's reaction and he scanned the child reflexively, looking for an illness, checking to be sure he was okay. "The child is sick?"

"It's genetic, and still present. The current generation nanites don't alter DNA, unlike Blues." Damn it. "A little over two years ago, my wife and I had twins. They seemed like identical twins at first, but they weren't. Saito... sometimes, he'd suddenly start screaming, and... in my family, there are records of this. Chest pains, and then they die. I found the genetic defect. I even got to name it." Joy. "But there wasn't any cure. Just... that the first bioroid had cured similar conditions." Changed their genes. Fixed what was killing them. "And I was already on Tokyo University Hospital's staff, and we had already applied for a bioroid." He'd wanted to be on the cutting edge. "Everyone kept saying it was fate," he said, bitterly. "My _son_ was _dying_, and everyone kept pointing out that my last name is Japanese for Light." When Dr. Light's son had died, so it was anything but the good omen they seemed to think it was.

Metal's eyes softened somewhat, listening to his story, feeling his unfettered emotions: he wasn't lying; he was laying himself bare. But Metal didn't understand, "If not the removal of the nanites, what do you want?"

"Saito's breaking the locks. Fast. And he's a child. It's their job to find out how the world works." To experiment. And bioroids listened to their instincts. "And it's a parent's job to keep them safe. To make sure they don't get burned too badly. When Elec did this... I know he hates me, and he has every right, but he saved my son. Materials from Elec were buying him time, but perform that many surgeries on a little kid, and eventually, something is going to go wrong." And Saito would have died, right there on the operating table, or perhaps he'd never wake up from the anesthetic. "I've studied this. I saw what was happening to Elec. It's not possible to limit a bioroid. Saito's powers won't stay locked. And he will play with them, and I won't be able to stop him if he makes a mistake. If he does something that will hurt himself, or someone else." The first, screwing up his own body, he might survive. The second? If someone carrying bioroid nanites hurt a human, or unleashed something dangerous? "I can't hide what he can do much longer. One of these days, he'll melt a hole through the door. So... I know I don't have any right to ask this of you, or your family, but please." This time, he lowered his forehead to the ground. "If you know how to look after young bioroids..."

Metal was quiet for a long moment, staring hard at the doctor. He'd seen what Elec was going through, but hadn't said anything. Because Elec's presence in that hospital was the only thing keeping his son alive. He could have asked Metal to undo the lock on his own abilities, so he could raise his own son. He'd have been laughed at and refused, but if he wanted to stay with his son, wouldn't that request make the most sense? Metal had the luxury of locking his thoughts and most of his emotions away and he knew that the doctor wouldn't be able to approach him, wouldn't be able to hurt him. His father had seen to that.

He'd mentioned a wife, and another son. Was the bioroid child, this child, being seen as an obstacle? "You want us to _take_ your son?" The idea was completely alien to him, and he was horrified—what if Elec had given _him_ away? "Why, so you can return to your human wife and child?"

Yuichiro _laughed_. So hard it might have hurt, if he still felt pains like that. "My... Netto barely knows what I look like. Haruka... I hadn't seen Haruka in a week when this happened. I haven't gone home in... I don't even remember what color she decided to paint their room." The few times he'd seen it, he'd been too sleep-deprived to really notice. He'd had a cot in his office, and sometimes his wife called to remind him to sleep. "And after this, no matter what happens to the other people here? If all goes well, I'm going to jail for a long, _long_time."

Metal was quiet again, but he'd curled a reassuring arm around the child while they spoke; he'd detected the strain between the two adults. "You…if we take him, you won't be seeing him again." Not soon. Probably not _ever._ Not if things kept on this way.

"But he'll be alive. Haruka, Haruka understands." She'd supported him, in working those hours. She'd watched over Netto and he'd left her _alone_, both of them going crazy with fear for their children, under the surface. As a human, it had been easier to hide from his feelings, pretend to ignore his instincts. "I'll be alone, but he'll be alive." Haruka would visit, when she could. If it was legal: who knew how this would go? "Haruka couldn't manage him, and I can't take him to jail with me." He was the one who hadn't done anything wrong.

"…You…you're really serious." He sighed and closed his eyes; he wished he could open a link with his father to ask about this, but it wouldn't be safe to, not until they got out of here. Instead, he asked his cousins where they were. How far along they were. That they'd gained one more. And it wouldn't be fair, to leave the child alone this way. His father was right; they would take him the second something went awry. It'd be better for him, mentally, emotionally, to be guided by his own kind, by people who could handle him. People who could teach him. "Alright. I'll take him with me." Metal hesitated, though, looked at Dr. Hikari. In case he wanted to say good-bye one last time.

He did, opening his arms for the child and nuzzling his hair. "Thank you." He closed his eyes. "Please, tell him that we love him, his mother and I. Don't let him doubt that." Unwanted Child Syndrome was no longer something in a dry textbook, forgotten immediately after the test: he could _feel_ what this could do to his son. "Tell Elec that I'm sorry. It was easier to pretend that he wasn't a person than condemn my son to death. If I'd reported those results, Dr. Light would have canceled the trials and recalled all of them." No more materials, no more desperate race against time to develop the nanites enough to find a cure. "Please, don't blame Saito. If he wants vengeance... I don't think I'll last to the end of a reasonable sentence." Perhaps they'd put the other turned criminals in a cell block together, but that wouldn't be enough. Not when he already missed them so desperately.

Metal looked a bit sad, sad to see that this was causing parents and children to be separated. He held an open hand toward Saito, beckoning the child back to him. He didn't want to linger. "We will not lie to him, he will know who he is. Don't worry for his well-being; he will be well looked-after." He knew that deep down, Dr. Hikari would never stop worrying for Saito. Just as Metal never stopped worrying after his father. He needed to bring the child to his father and uncles, they'd be better at looking after the baby.

Dr. Hikari hesitated, then forced himself—Metal could _feel_the overrides, the gritted teeth—to place the child in Metal's arms. As soon as he did he collapsed, like a puppet with its strings cut. That emptiness of relief and defeat overwhelmed him only for a moment.

Yuichiro had known it would be hard, from the way he'd reacted when they'd wanted to take him away just long enough for a simple test, and he'd been able to watch the entire time. It still surprised him, how determined his body was to attack Metal. He'd hoped that Elec's blocks would help, but apparently he'd just unlocked them. He wrapped his arms around himself, and, struggling for a moment of clarity, crushed his forearms.

Enhanced strength was easy to unlock. The human body already had protocols for it, and nanites responded to emergencies, to survival necessities.

Metal darted up and backed away from Yuichiro when he heard both of the doctor's humeri break, the bones cracking and shattering. Metal was half-expecting some kind of reaction, but one this strong, this extreme? He held the child close, careful not to jostle him too much, trying not to alarm him. "What the hell? Stop that!" Metal reached out with his nanites, looking to heal the injuries, to stop the pain. Saito had started crying.

"I _can't,_or else I'll attack you. Your nanites... they unlock instincts, try to make us care more. I worked myself into exhaustion, day after day after day, for my son. I ignored someone's suffering, I _falsified__ results_, for my son. And that was _before __this_. If Elec thought I was heartless, then I'm sorry to disappoint him," he barely managed not to snarl. "We have politeness and civilization for a _reason_. We have _lies _for a reason. You aren't the HBD, the nanites, Elec: you aren't any of the things that are really taking my son from me. But you are taking him away, and you are _here_. And I _do__ not__ want _to lose him. I, myself, I know that I have to give him up. My body, your nanites, don't understand that. So I have to distract them... with an immediate threat." Something that had to be dealt with before they could get Saito back. "How can I blame you for... doing things like this, when I know what you're dealing with now? And you don't have any idea." And about a seventh of that was his fault. "Elec locked me to make sure I couldn't attack you, but they're already down. Go_."_

_ Don't,_his emotions screamed at him, plea and threat. _Don't__ or __I'll __kill __you._

So much like Elec, except for that struggling hope-without-hope at the center of it.

His kin, his child, and now he would be _alone_.

With one last, saddened glance back toward Dr. Hikari, Metal dashed from the room. He didn't want to prolong this any further. His own instincts were recognizing the child as kin, although not as his own, and he wanted to put him with his father and uncles, where he'd be safe…except Rock would be headed there. He had to get through. At least Saito was calmer now, happy so long as he got hugs and attention. It probably hadn't sunk in that he'd never seen his father again. Metal blocked that thought from the child.


	4. In the Right Hands

_My apologies for the late update. Real Life has been boxing me in the face and I haven't had as much time to myself as I'd like. I'm moving my update day for both active stories to Tuesday in the hopes that having to just do it once a week will be more doable at the moment. _

_ And here's chapter four of Destruction Order, we hope you enjoy._

* * *

><p>Metal left the door to the fathers' cell open behind him when he'd left to intercept Rock. This wasn't a prison, not any more. When Bubble, Quick, and Wood got to the room, the six were sitting down together. They were sitting close, snuggled close, and it was strange to see them without their armor, without their strength.<p>

It would seem strange to the humans watching the footage to see these bioroids, these thoroughly armed super soldiers, immediately begin hugging upon meeting. Rather than shaking hands, clapping each other on the back, or some other greeting normal for (human) adults, bioroids preferred close physical contact. It was an affirmation of kin, an acceptance, recognition. It baffled the bioroids to see how little humans touched each other unless they were in a sexual relationship. Taboos on physical contact were another manifestation of human suicidal insanity. How little they recognized each other, how little they _loved _each other. To bioroids, refusal of that kind of contact? Was refusal of kin, was a show of disgust, of hatred.

It really had been torture for the Eldest.

They relaxed when they saw their parents, their uncles, safe and sound. Wood stepped in immediately while Quick and Bubble hung back for a moment to scan the room. Figure out Rock's progress. Metal had just gone offline, they'd need to move soon to intercept their uncle. Wood looked between them all, assessing their conditions. His armor was overgrown over him, covered head to toe in a hardened metal armor. It looked like wood. He'd have fit right in in the jungle around Guts' hospital. He'd been standing _right there_ the entire time and they never saw him. He was happy, so relieved, just so…just to see his father again. To feel him again. He almost started crying when he hugged Guts. He had to grit his teeth, though his father felt it in his broadcast.

Bubble joined in, too, nearly knocking Guts over despite his size. Quick pounced on Cut, like he had when he was a baby, just wanting attention and approval. They were all so relieved. They were alright, they'd made it on time. Everything would be okay now.

Ice was glad to see them, and feel the reassurance that they'd gotten his out too, but he'd picked up from Metal that the humans actually tried to kill them. "What about Roll?" He owed her.

Bubble was the one to respond, "She's with Dr. Light still. The humans didn't make any decisions regarding her or Rock, but…" But once these six were dead, it was a toss-up. They may very well move on to destroy Rock and Roll. The children were frustrated; all three of them agreed that Rock and Roll should both stop siding with the humans and work with them.

That made Ice hesitate and look at Guts. He was the one who sent his children away, the dissenting vote. He'd been right then. What did he think they should do now?

"You need to come with us." Quick's voice was clear and confident. Out of all of Cut's children, he was the most decisive, the most assertive. "If you stay with the humans, there is no question that they _will _kill you." Quick wasn't going to stand for that. Last time, he'd had to sit by, he was too weak then. Not now.

"And if we come with you?" Guts rumbled, folding his arms at his children. "Now, they know for certain that you exist. I should not have told Rock that I smuggled you out.

"It's better than sitting here, starving, waiting to die!" Wood returned readily, shaking his head at his father. "Do you think we just came here on a whim, while we were out for a walk? We have the resources, we have the protection. We're not weak, there's nothing the humans will be able to do if you come with us."

They looked at each other. "It only took one bioroid to defeat all of us," Elec pointed out.

"Two," Ice corrected him.

"Two," he admitted. "She might be the more dangerous of the two of them."

"We were warned," Quick informed him. "They still haven't gotten permission to leave the compound." Roll and Dr. Light. He didn't mention Rock.

"We need to move quickly. Air will be here soon," Bubble reminded them.

"Move quickly?" There wasn't anything to pack. "How are you going to avoid the JSDF's radar?" Elec wondered.

Quick grinned, "They won't be able to detect the helicopter at all. They outfitted it to be invisible to the humans." It had been child's play, he was informed. He wasn't sure it'd have been so easy for him to do.

"They?" Elec wondered.

"We had some help pulling this off," Quick said offhandedly, tilting his head as he received incoming communication from Air. He was here. Rock was on the move. They needed to get the elders moving before he got here. "Let's go."

That made all of them stop. "Help?" From humans?

Quick shook his head, "We can talk more once we're in the chopper." He sent out a feeling of apology, but he was asked not to say too much when there may be human devices listening. Or if one of the soldiers gained consciousness and overheard.

"I need to know what is going on," Elec insisted.

The children hesitated, glancing at each other, but it was Wood that reached out with his nanites, supplying metal and other raw materials from his reserves to allow Elec to regrow his antenna, allowing him to connect with the network, contact them remotely.

What was going on, what was Roll doing, what were the humans saying? "Rock came?" He'd run here, without waiting for authorization. "You didn't even notify him and Roll?" Did the children really think it wasn't worth telling _them_? Had they thought they wouldn't help?

"What?" Ice wondered. Seriously, what?

It wasn't Rock or Roll that they didn't want knowing. It was Dr. Light. "Telling them was as good as telling the humans," Quick said flatly. It was true; they worked closely with the humans. What good had it done their parents?

"They're still kin," Ice protested. "Roll... She worked hard." For us.

Except that telling Rock and Roll would have completely ruined the plan. "We've worked hard, too. Metal and Flash fell." For you. "If we'd told them, the humans would have known, and you'd be _dead."_

"You told the humans, and they had to find out through humans." You didn't even extend kin the courtesy you gave _humans_.

"Dr. Light got a court order. The humans are staying outside since the only combat bioroid already ran inside, heroically, completely unprepared," and Roll had choice things to say about that, although she was darting in to drag people out. "Roll has Flash's weapon... but not Metal's. He didn't upload that one to her before falling asleep."

It was great to be back online.

"A court order that would have come forty-two minutes and seventeen seconds after your deaths!" They couldn't be trusted, not for this. Not right now. Quick took in a breath, trying to calm down, his aura broadcasting his fear, his fear of losing his father, of losing his uncles. Of knowing how horribly close they were to losing them. Seconds. Metal intervened with _seconds_ to spare.

"It's more than I expected," Fire said, sending at him to calm down.

"And when did you find out, anyway?" Elec wondered. Even though he didn't want to be arguing this side. Arguing that... that man might have... "He actually tried." They would have cleaned up his mess, in a way he couldn't be blamed for, and he'd tried.

Bubble answered Elec's question. "For sure? We found out _for sure_ when the order was signed, about three minutes before it came down." Three short, terrifying minutes. "We were expecting it since you were moved here, to this 'evidence locker'. We've been keeping watch on you since." Every hour of every day, constantly guarded.

"It got to the point of signing before you seriously believed the humans would do it?" Seriously? He still put a hand on his shoulder, along with Guts, to calm him down. "Thank you, for watching over us." That was said more kindly. "You were in time." Stop being so afraid now. Quick shivered.

"Light actually acted in good faith," Bomb had to admit. "I expected to be killed long before this." They'd known they would die, and wanted their children to be safe. "I think... the second eldest may have earned a bit more trust." Not Dr. Light, or the humans, but the kin that had never seen them as enemy, just kin.

"He wasn't beaten, he overstressed his body and fell asleep. He's almost here," Elec warned them, detached. "So... we should make up our minds."

"He fell asleep?" Cut wondered, pulling Quick down to rest a bit until he got those stress toxins out of his system. With a speed trick like his, he should know better than to let those build up.

Quick had to resist the urge to curl up next to Cut and just stay there for a while. The longer they delayed here, the more anxious Quick became; he was acutely aware of their closing window. He took in a deep breath to calm himself: he could feel that he was worrying his father and uncles.

When Quick got up, Elec warned him, "Be careful. He's not at a hundred percent, but he's not unarmored. Someone healed him."

That was the scene Air walked into and it made him frown. He queried Quick, his general feeling being 'wtf?' He'd taken a while because he had to pick up Flash, who was out cold, so he'd had to actually drag him aboard. Not a big deal, Flash wasn't that heavy, but that still took time, and he'd been hoping that they'd be ready to _go._ Instead, they were still talking and Quick appeared to be having some kind of a breakdown.

On a private line, Quick sent to him to stuff it.

"We've got time," Elec informed Air. "Unless you want to avoid the second eldest." The humans were still keeping their distance: they remembered the hospitals, they didn't have Rock and if the turned were under Bioroid control, as per some conspiracies?

"Not fighting him _would have been nice." _He was close now, very close. And they were still talking? Now someone would have to go and fight him. "If we leave right now, we'll still miss him." They could discuss this on the way back. Where they were going was not a prison. They wouldn't be made to stay if they honestly wanted to go back to that murderer.

The six looked at each other. "Someone should stay," they all knew. "To show that we, at least, want peace." And not a fight with five and a half billion people.

The one left behind would be in danger, danger of being killed anyway. All four children's immediate response was NO, even if it did make sense, but they were still their parents, they'd planned this out so carefully so they could save all of them, not extend an olive branch that humanity would sooner burn than accept.

"The second eldest does have a point, that the fighting has to end somehow, somewhere." _I'd rather it didn't end with your deaths. _Guts hugged his two.

"_You're _not staying," Cut told Quick.

Quick grimaced and looked away. Whose death is worth this? That price was just too high of one to ask. Quick stepped toward the door, then looked back toward Wood. He didn't want to be there for the decision. What if his father stayed behind? That panic began to crawl up again and he tried to squash it. Imagining what to tell his cousins, the children of the one that did stay behind, wasn't much better. It made him feel sick.

Wood nodded, stepped away from Guts, and followed Quick out of the room. He glanced back at his father at the doorway, as though trying to frame him in his mind. They needed time, time to decide, time to get going. Rock needed to be intercepted for that to happen.

"_Ice. Ice should go_." He'd suffered more than most, Fire thought, and the others seemed to agree.

"_Elec. He had the shortest time,"_ Ice said next, since he was already stuck. It wasn't self-serving to name someone else.

Obviously, they wouldn't tell the children yet. Ice couldn't reassure Air without worrying the others.

Air was looking to them expectantly. He couldn't hide his own unease, but they needed to get going, and soon.

Wood and Quick were _pissed._ There wasn't another word to describe it. They'd come here to gather all six parents. Leaving even one behind felt like a massive failure.

"We can't just let them stay undefended." The two of them looked at each other.

"I'll plant trees around the perimeter." Wood nodded.

"I'll download the Anarchist's Cookbook." The mental data. Planting bombs worked for Time. "And look for supplies." The two of them nodded and Quick started running.

The fathers would yell at them if they found out, but they wouldn't have to find out until everything was set up. Their fathers had defended them: of course they would do the same... Quick skidded to a halt. "Metal?" What is _that_, and why are you carrying it?

Metal was at a loss. "Quick, are they still up there?" It's a baby, what does it look like? He was holding the child in both arms, securely against his chest. Saito quieted considerably once Metal himself calmed and the child was mostly cooing and giving off an aura that he was generally content. He didn't know what he'd do if the baby started screaming. The whole facility would know where he was.

"They are. Some of them aren't going to leave, so Wood and I decided to take over this place _properly_." Did Metal want in?

Metal _did._ But first, "One of the turned left this one to us." He hefted the baby so Quick could take a look. "He undid all of his own locks. We…it'd be wrong to let the humans at him." But he wanted to leave him with the elders. They'd be better at this.

"...It _left _him?" Something this cute, and a human had just abandoned it because it broke its locks? "Which one? I'll throw it out." A human like that wasn't allowed anywhere near his parent if he stayed here. It could brave the other humans and hope they wouldn't shoot it on sight.

Metal shook his head, opening a data link with Quick to make his point more effectively. "The father's locked, he can't do anything once this guy starts experimenting." 'No' was such a flimsy word. When they were bad and they were that young, their parents would just swat the nanites or lock the ability. He was horrified that the father wanted to give him away, too, but…

Quick tilted his head. "The human... for the child's sake? Even though he'll grow up a bioroid instead of a human?" He didn't have any memories of human culture, the nanites would be in his mind as it formed: he would effectively be one of them. "...Do you think we should take that human with us?"

No, Metal thought. Not when he had hurt Elec. "He has a human family, too." One he had to give up and one he didn't have to. Except he would be separated from them because of what he did to Elec.

He didn't want to have to tell that story twice, and he should show it to Elec first. Father had the right to decide.

"I'll come back to help after I bring this one to them." Metal was beyond uncomfortable with his babysitting task. The child himself didn't make him uncomfortable, he had no problems reassuring him and comforting him. But the responsibility was _daunting._

Their fathers had shielded it better: the human had laid himself bare. He now knew something of what his father felt. Red eyes narrowed at the thought of letting the humans touch them. He should put the soldier-turned in containment, maybe transport them by kicking them. Down the stairs. They'd survive it.

The new version locked them to not attack any true bioroid, but one turned had already overcome those locks. Oh, right, he should notify someone of that.

There, done. It would be handled. Although they might want that human as a test subject. It would be up to Elec. "_I'll go ask him_."

Metal could hear voices before he even got to the room with the turned soldiers. He eyed them dispassionately and rubbed the child's back. Saito would never have to see things like this again once they got out of here. He could hear Air and Bubble in there, too. Good, maybe they'd come to a decision. He slipped into the room quietly, though he knew everyone was aware of him. It was very difficult to sneak up on a bioroid.

"Father?" He held the child up, wondering if father would recognize it from the body or the nanite signature. It had been six months.

Had his father known that this was Dr. Hikari's child? Had he even seen the child? Did he know that there was a reason besides his humanity that the man had been cruel?

He still wasn't sure what to think about all this. Yes, he wanted to know, but... He'd much rather go help with the defenses than hear about this now. Still, he should at least see that the baby had settled in all right, so that if he ran into that human, he could tell him that the child was happy.

Air and Wood were both…so confused now. A baby? Whose? From _where?_ Air glanced over at his father, then to Elec, uncertain. Did they know about this? The child was a bioroid, but…

"...It's Dr. Hikari's," Metal said gruffly when his father didn't respond.

"...You _stole _it?" Elec couldn't believe it. Yes, if any human shouldn't be allowed to raise children it was that one, but still!

What? "No!" Metal pulled the child back toward him, protectively. The story was an awkward one to tell, and somehow it felt even more so when he was telling his father. "He broke his locks. Dr. Hikari asked us to take him. He said he couldn't take care of him this way." He couldn't say no. "If he's like that, and the humans realize it…"

"I'm surprised he gave up a test subject." That man cared about nothing but what he could do to Elec. "Even if it was too much trouble."

"He didn't want to." Metal stepped forward then, and offered the child to his father. More surprising that he gave up his own, even if he had to break his own arms in the process. He opened a mental link and transmitted the memory to Elec, so he could understand.

Elec took it carefully, even as he watched the memory, mystified. "...You should see this," he told the others. He... didn't know what to think about it right now, even as he held the small human, no, the tiny bioroid child, to his chest.

The one thing he was sure of was that now he did have to leave. This child was his responsibility now, and he couldn't leave it here, in the reach of humans.

Fire moved over to take a look at the child, scan him, and commit his frequency to memory. He accepted the file from Elec and actually paused in his scan in surprise. "That's…"

Metal took two steps back, relieved that they'd take care of it. Certain that they'd do a good job of it. "I'm going to back up Wood and Quick," He told them before turning abruptly and heading toward the door. He himself wasn't even sure what to make of the memory. He needed to blow off some steam. In the next room, he roughly grabbed the turned soldiers and dragged them to a closet. He piled them up in there, none too gently and slammed the door. He carefully placed metal blades sealed the door shut. He was disgusted with humans. He didn't understand what the second eldest saw in them, not at all. He messaged Quick that he was on his way and headed down the stairs. He'd make damn well sure that from here on out, no human would get in easily.

It was far easier to hate the humans than think that one of them had done that to his father, to all their fathers, for a _reason_. That they weren't just cruel, insane, and projecting it onto bioroids. (That life might not be fair, that the world might just be a place where parents couldn't always stay with children, even if the evil humans were beaten.)

It was just... coincidence that he headed in the direction of where he'd left that human first. It was efficient to set up defenses for that area first, even though there were no people there. Oh! There weren't many people there, so that made it a good place to fight the second eldest. Metal nodded to himself.

Although, the second eldest surely wouldn't want to go back there. Not when he could feel the human's keening misery and anger, wanting something to fight as he'd wanted to fight the humans for his father, through three walls.

Had he been a 'true' bioroid, Metal would have flatly informed him that he was projecting his everything _everywhere_ and would he kindly turn the volume down from eleven? Then he'd have helped the poor man calm down because saying something about it but not helping about it was just awful. As it was, the bereaved doctor couldn't control how his feelings broadcast. It was never good to turn it down all the way; it cut off a lot of communication, but having it magnified like that wasn't good, either. There was something Metal could do to calm him, though. "Dr. Hikari?"

When he carefully went through the door and observed what was left of the room, he thought that perhaps they really should keep the human as a test subject. Not only wouldn't he be so miserable then, but this was... impressive.

Metal knew about adrenaline, how the human body released energy when it was desperate or angry, and sometimes the only way to cool down would be to exert that energy. By, for example, destroying a roomful of cafeteria tables. They were only plywood, and unlocking increased strength would come easily to humans, which their fathers had thought might be a good thing, to make the humans consider the turned a threat almost equal to bioroids when they were actually far weaker, but the endurance?

Dr. Hikari's knuckles were actually bloody. Oh, they weren't cut anymore, but still. He'd exhausted himself enough the nanites hadn't wasted energy cleaning that up, gathering up the iron.

If the Turned were capable of things like this, then the next batch might have to be altered. Half the point of turning them was to make sure they weren't a threat anymore, and not just while they were transforming. If this one had undone the barriers against attacking bioroids, and was capable of a feat like this, he might be a credible threat.

Of course, it was simple enough to restore the locks before he got too close to the human. Tie them into his fear for his child, convince his subconscious that if he was attacked, harm might befall Saito, and the lock clicked into place. He made a note to show Elec that.

"Dr. Hikari," He tried again, moving into the man's field of vision, but still staying a good distance away. He knew the doctor was likely aware that he was locked again, but that might be a relief to him, that he still couldn't approach Metal, no matter his intention.

It was surprising that a lock tied to fear for his own life had snapped, yet this one held. Metal summoned a saw wheel to his hand and gripped it, perhaps to tell himself to get a grip. This was a human, even if one that was almost bioroid-like in one certain area.

Elec had killed and was willing to die for him. He hated that, the second part especially.

He wondered what Saito would feel about Dr. Hikari being locked up after this, away from his kin and the sunlight.

"And I was worried that Saito wouldn't be able to get to sleep." The human laughed softly, tired.

"He is with my father." Metal tilted his head. "We will take him somewhere where he can grow." It looked like Dr. Hikari was the one that needed sleep.

"That's good, and hopefully... Hopefully I'll get a long sentence, and he can visit Haruka, or she and Netto can visit him on weekends, until he's learned enough." A world where Saito would be fine was a world that would punish him, for what he'd done to make sure of that. "And perhaps they'll visit me in prison, although I'm sure they won't want to come." _Haruka will make them_, he knew. "So... It's not too bad." He hoped.

Listing out his hopes like wishing for it was enough to make it happen…a coping mechanism. "You should get some rest. Go back to your ward, go to sleep." He was looking around the room, already planning a good defense strategy. The others were making good progress.

"Have you ever heard of something called walkabout fever? Cut has probably heard of it. It's not just bioroids that wither, when they're locked up away from the sun. I think that civilization is all about teaching us to ignore our needs. Live without them. Cultures that live like our ancestors did, as nomads... I can tell you think I'm a fool, for thinking peace will be that easy. But otherwise, I don't think I'll ever see him again. If I think of it this way, it's easier." To bear. "I'd have to get worked up again in order to get my body to move, and then I'll never get to sleep. Don't worry, I've slept on worse. Elec's seen me."

Metal's red eyes had a flicker of pity in them, though it was hard to sympathize with a human. Especially considering that he'd run himself ragged from torturing his father. "Then I suggest you make yourself as unremarkable as possible." So the others pass him by. Metal didn't think he understood how offensive it was to them, for him to give up his child, even if it was in the child's best interests. Even if he truly was unfit to raise it. Especially given how riled up he was, everyone was. Only two parents were going back with them. _Only two._ It made him sick.

He'd work his hardest to make this facility secure from humans. Only over his dead body would another human lay a finger on his father.

Hikari's head was pillowed on his arms: he hadn't needed to look up to know it was Metal. He shrugged, still without getting up. He really didn't care. They'd had him check some of the data, and it was true: all the turned were starting to develop claustrophobia, a hatred of being in the same place day after day when it was hostile territory instead of their homes. Thankfully, there was tons of anthropological data proving that was a natural phenomenon and not a bit of bioroid mind control, to force them to rebel and become troops or something. "Oh, your aunt's furious with you, although I told her I didn't mind." Really.

Metal shrugged. They weren't exactly pleased with Rock and Roll right now, either. And that didn't even touch the subject of Dr. Light. "It's done now." It was too late, no take-backs. That child was one of them now; they would not suffer it falling into human hands. He wanted to help the doctor heal, but he wasn't sure if that was in their best interest, not if that meant he'd go berserk again.

"He's safe, and well," Dr. Hikari said, in that same 'trying to convince himself ' tone. _And not with us. Our son, kin and not with us. _When he'd worked so hard to find some way to bring him home. "Sometimes, you just have to settle for what you can get." Honestly, it was kind of funny that this bioroid thought he was bad or something because he'd given up Saito, for the hope of not having to give him up to death, for forever, when he could be despising him for other things he'd done. He doubted Elec had shown him everything. He certainly wouldn't show this to Saito.

Thinking about it was just making him feel that quiet desperation that had kept him awake worrying these past few months. Why could he break those locks and turn into, what was it? The Bulk? And not the ones that would let him go to sleep whenever he wanted?

"He'll not want for anything," Metal assured him. He would have a happy childhood, be permitted a real one, not one laden with fear and anxiety like his own had been. Metal was scanning Dr. Hikari, monitoring his nanites, trying to figure out why he was able to break out of some of his locks. He already had a list of fixes that needed to be applied, a list he needed to show to Elec. He knew the doctor could feel his attention, his scans. It was soothing, despite how the doctor's human side was resisting it, trying to reject it. He didn't share any specific memories (the human didn't deserve it), but he let him feel the sincerity behind his promise that Saito would be taken care of. Let him know, deep down, that it was true, not just something to try to make him feel better. Not an empty promise.

Metal reached for Dr. Hikari's nanites and initiated the subroutine that controls sleep. He ordered the nanites to shut down, to cut adrenaline production, to begin a rest cycle. Let the body heal, let the mind heal. Let everything settle, return to its right place. He didn't let go until the doctor was fast asleep.

It was strange, to feel a human's gratitude.

To feel a human, even if he was somewhat a bioroid, even if it was on the subconscious level where they were no different, acknowledge him as kin, as to-be-protected, for the protection he had given the young one.


	5. Segmentation Fault

_Author's notes have never been a talent of mine. It feels a bit like keeping a journal or making a blog, and really, I never made a habit of keeping something like that. It's a bit odd to beta something you wrote yourself, although the time between then and now makes it feel at least a little like fresh material._

_ There's still that disconnect, that lack of understanding on the bioroids' part, but they're starting to realize that the humans aren't all cold, nonsensical, murderous beings. I honestly feel a little bad for them, given that all of their experience, up until this (very slow) turning point, was so negative. It's hard to trust when you've been betrayed._

_ Once again, I apologize for the sporadic updates: I've been busy with work and general financial issues. Life immediately after graduation is terribly uncertain when you can't find a job that can actually sustain you. I'd say wish me luck, but I think we all need a little bit of luck right now._

_ Anyway, Mega Man is copyright Capcom and Laryna6 and I are making no profit here, aside from the enjoyable writing._

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><p>It wasn't at all strange to be cradling a baby again. Granted, Elec's own children were never small enough to actually cradle in his arms this way, but he'd held them all. It would take years for Saito's body and mind to develop. He wasn't starting out with a matured brain, he'd learn and grow as his mind developed. It only took a gentle nudge to slide his locks back in place, to ensure that he wouldn't be able to hurt himself with his nanites.<p>

It was like keeping the knives well out of reach.

That human doctor was asking, _imploring_ them to take his son, his sick son that he struggled to keep safe, to keep well, happy, healthy. He was willing to trust them with this.

Elec closed his eyes.

Ice crept up to see the baby, sending a soothing feeling to Elec, assuring him that they'd help, this was something for them all to sort out.

To think that there was an actual reason behind Elec's torture. A genuine rationalization. There may be one for all of them. The humans were not crazed, brutal, cold beings. They loved, they looked after their own, and they _struggled._

They worked to protect their kin, just as he, Elec, everyone worked to protect their children. Just as their children were now working to protect them.

Even if their methods were rather…clumsy.

Dr. Light even tried to protect them. That restraining order. He'd actually fought back, fought for their survival. It could even be that they'd stayed alive this long because Dr. Light was fighting.

And now Rock was here, unprepared, because he was worried, too. Worried for them. He was fighting for them again, against the children.

It made Ice feel sick.

Wasn't that what Rock had been saying? That everyone was trying to protect people, afraid and lashing out in self-defense? They'd thought he was just talking about the humans, because the six of them, they were justified: they had suffered.

This... they hadn't been the only ones suffering. They had reached out to each other, felt each other's pain: why hadn't they reached out to the humans? Why hadn't he asked Dr. Hikari why, once the man was bound not to attack him? Once the man couldn't lie to him? He'd assumed that people would only do such terrible things for evil reasons, but hadn't he killed, to protect his children?

Assumptions like that...they were being just as blind as the humans were. It was no better than the humans assuming that bioroids couldn't think, couldn't feel.

Bomb rubbed his head and sighed, sitting down. They needed to reevaluate their entire approach. He hoped humanity would give them the same consideration.

And the children…they weren't interpreting this the same way. Ice could feel it from Air. Giving up the child like that only lowered Air's opinion of the human doctor.

Air pointed out that if Dr. Hikari told Dr. Light, explained the situation with his son, Elec wouldn't have suffered for nearly so long and the child probably would not have died. Rock would have been a perfectly legitimate donor while Elec was undergoing examination.

Guts had sent his children away to protect them. Now Bubble was here, but Wood had gone to fight.

Fire raised an eyebrow at the child. "You don't remember the hospitals. How many sick humans are there? How many that can only be saved by we bioroids? There was nothing special about this child, except that Dr. Hikari's. Letting so much of Elec's time and capabilities be taken up by a single patient," a relatively small percentage, but huge compared to any other individual, "was an abuse of power. If Dr. Light answered every request, he would need a hundred, a thousand of us. Humans need bioroids: that's why they created us again, after the eldest." That was why they'd been tested on, why they'd suffered. "To them, we are like fire." Ah, it was good to have enough energy to summon it to his hands again. "Something that can make their lives so much better, but also something that can kill them. A hearth fire can burn a house down."

Fire had a point, but still. The child was safe with them, far safer than he would be with the humans, once they realized he'd undone his locks. He'd hurt himself or others experimenting. Air had more than one close call in his own experience; being able to heal was a wonderful thing. He didn't like causing pain, but he realized now that sometimes, you had to push back. He'd still rather they'd left before fighting the second eldest became necessary. He didn't want Rock to be hurt, either, even if they were on opposing sides. Even if they didn't see eye-to-eye.

"If they'd had a hint that we were about to go out of control, they would have been terrified," Elec agreed, looking down at the child. "We've all seen how far they'll go when that happens. This is... just one of hundreds of people that are alive because they didn't say anything. I hope you know where humans get most of their replacement organs, without bioroids? Their own dead, just like bioroids. Except they have to hope that someone of the right type dies at the right time, intact enough to be used, and they gave permission to be used. Otherwise, they'll die. A child that needed to replace dozens of organs? _Hearts_?" He shook his head. "He wouldn't have been down in the morgue with Metal when I rebelled. He would have been long dead and buried, if Dr. Hikari hadn't done everything he could." Now that he was _looking _at the child's DNA, now that he'd finally managed to track down some information on 'HBD,' he could see it. The marks of dozens of surgeries were also obvious to his senses: some of the scars were harmless things the nanites hadn't bothered to tidy up yet.

The condition would be an immensely painful one without the nanites there. Just based on Metal's memory of Dr. Hikari's plea, they could only imagine how much fear he lived in. It'd probably gotten to the point that any whimper caused the doctor panic: was the child fussing or was he in pain again? Was it acting up? Was it getting worse?

The injection was what saved the child's life.

Air and Bubble were curiously scanning the baby, too, though they were staying a bit more distanced to let the elders tend to him. Small greetings, reassurances, acknowledgement of kin.

"Your bodies are those of humans we couldn't save. Or didn't. We could have, if we'd moved earlier," Bomb said: he'd been eager to get started. "Like the eldest existed because Dr. Light's son died. Dr. Hikari... that must have hurt." Being reminded of the similarity. "Their genes, their bodies, live on because of you, but you are not them." They were their own people, their children. "He chose this child's life over his humanity. But he survived."

"Hmm..." Ice looked doubtful. "He won't be the same person he would have been without nanites. The same genes don't necessarily produce the same person." And he would know, since he'd torn himself in two. "You're right, though, that he has it easier than Dr. Light. His child survived because of us. The eldest finished Dr. Light's off, because of his own error. But, still."

Air kept it to himself that without the nanites, Dr. Hikari's son wouldn't have grown into anyone because he'd be dead.

Bubble was frowning under his mask. The Eldest was treated so because he had the misfortune of being planted into the body of a dying boy. "The Eldest did his best with what he was given…"

It was easy for Elec to imagine what would have happened if there had been a similar oversight in their own nanites. If the child still needed the life support equipment when Elec started re-routing power, if the small life that was trying to grab at Elec's antennae had been hit by a stray blast, overwhelmed its ability to heal: a small body had fewer resources to use to heal itself. "He would have done everything he could to kill me." The lightning rage he'd have turned against his own body to keep it from earthing itself in his own child, who only wanted to help him. "I didn't let him go: he was in the hospital when it ended. If he could break locks..." If Dr. Hikari attacked Elec, Elec would have been happy to kill him. He wouldn't have lasted a single heartbeat. But he might have guessed that: he'd known quite a bit. In fact, he'd known far more than he'd admitted he did, hadn't he? More than Elec had guessed. If he'd tried to hurt Elec the way Elec had hurt him...

He couldn't help summoning Metal, the only one of his children within range. All the others were still hidden.

What if Dr. Hikari's son had died because of Elec's bid for freedom? Or in the course of Elec's battle to protect his own children? He'd had to break his own forearms to keep his protective rage, that felt so like Elec's own, from finding a target in Metal. If he'd had a valid target? If he'd turned them loose?

It was a human instinct to make others _understand_, once they had strength. If Dr. Hikari's instincts decided to make Elec understand the pain of losing a child?

He'd left the smartest, cruelest human in the hospital _unsupervised_ because he couldn't stand to be around him. Because he hadn't wanted to understand what drove him.

He had dodged a bullet.

It had taken three bullets for the humans to kill the Eldest.

Metal responded immediately via link, concern flooding in, querying, '_Are you okay? Is something wrong?' _ Elec could feel his child begin to head back toward the room immediately.

"_Come here." _Because he'd failed to understand humans, he'd placed his children in danger and not even known it. "We don't know enough," he said aloud. "We don't. We're better than them," they were: that was simple fact, "and we still killed. We still terrified them. If we don't understand them, if we assume we know what they're doing, they're going to surprise us. They may suppress their true instincts, but they're still in there, even though they ignore their hearts." He'd assumed there was nothing but cruelty there: he hadn't known what had sharpened the knife, so he'd had no idea how sharp it was. That the bonds he'd relied on would fail in an instant, if he'd misstepped. "His child wasn't really being stolen from him." Even though Elec had assumed Metal had done that. "But Metal was the one carrying him away, when he knew he would lose him. What if... what if Dr. Light saw the Eldest the same way? Except, without nanites, he wouldn't have had the ability to _see _that."

None of them had even considered that. It'd never occurred to them. And yet…

Metal ran all the way there, anxious, worried, alert. The run there was quiet, the room where he'd locked the soldiers in the closet was untouched. He stepped into the room with the elders, red eyes flicking over everything, his general aura was a worried curiosity. He relaxed only slightly when he saw that there was no apparent threat. His father was still cradling the child.

Ice was holding Air almost desperately, a sick lurch of empathetic pain going through him as he fully realized what Dr. Light must have gone through. "His kin was right there, but he couldn't be with him. He, he'd never be able to be with him again, and he saw him every day." Ice knew, they all did, what it was like to be _alone_. To be reminded of that? "The Eldest tried to reach out to him, but..." He looked up at Air. "If you... If you were captured, and the nanites were destroyed, but I got your body back... You wouldn't be _you_. And he'd known that child for... for _years_." So much longer than any of them had been alive. "Memories are so much of what make people who they are." That was how he'd divided himself. He only had a few memories of Air, but he'd still been one of the precious children.

Air shivered at the implication, easily constructing a scenario where that was Ice that happened to. They could have done it, done it to all six of them as they were being captured.

Metal looked around, picking up on how upset everyone was; it was making _him_ a little upset, but he walked in partway through the conversation. _'What happened?'_ He sent to Elec as he approached. He wanted to comfort his father, comfort them all, but if he didn't know the source…

Elec beckoned to him. "...You saw him again?" Not only that, examining Metal this closely revealed that he'd even touched the human... the man. "What were you thinking?" After he nearly attacked you?

Metal nodded and reached out for his father. He was mindful of the child, careful not to jostle him or let him anywhere near the razor-sharp blades along his shoulders. "He was in agony. He..." Metal glanced down at Saito, "I let him know the child was safe." He shrugged. "He tore the cafeteria up, he was too exhausted to stand. I let him sleep." By influencing his nanites, lulling him into a full sleep cycle.

The elders all winced in sympathy. "A dream like that..." Guts murmured. "Sometimes, being aware of the problem makes it worse. He knows he'll be driven mad. But he won't die of simply being imprisoned. We knew that they might imprison the turned. He'll die when, at the last, his desire to live overrides his decision to sacrifice himself, to die an honorable and just death for the sake of his family. But he would have to be very weak for that to happen. I doubt the guards would need even two bullets." To exhaust all the power he had left. "But, he is right. We will never be equals, and his child will never be safe, if humans are not made to suffer when their crimes hurt bioroids."

"So, Dr. Light really is going after them. And if he gives testimony, that will prove that there really was wrongdoing. It won't just be our word against the humans'." Provided that a turned, one who had given his own child up to the bioroids to be raised as one of them would still be counted as human or as a traitor to his own kind. Still, Fire was... cautiously hopeful.

"Even if he dreams it, it's a reality he needs to come to terms with, for his own sake." Deluding himself would be far worse and besides, humans process things like this while they sleep. Metal settled down next to his father, snuggling against him and closing his eyes, letting Elec read his status, assuring his father that that short amount of contact with the turned doctor didn't hurt him in any way.

Except... there had been that moment when the human's body and nanites had seen him as kin, and… It was ridiculous. Why was he even remembering it, now that he'd given the report? Elec was his kin, and he supposed the child as well, but not some... Not someone who had hurt Elec. Never. Not for any reason. Anyone that tried to keep him from saving Elec...

Metal thought of Rock's blood on the floor, and forced himself not to wince or show his father any distress.

Rock was fine, anyway, and... He'd apparently discovered what Metal's blades did to Wood's armor. The advantage of Wood's armor was that he could replace it quickly and it handled shocks well, but wood, sawblade: the outcome must have been obvious to the second eldest.

He had to acknowledge that if he hadn't been beaten, Wood wouldn't be getting his ass kicked that badly, but Wood knew that Rock had beaten Metal, so it was his own fault he was in that situation.

Maybe he should have helped him.

But no, that wouldn't be fair, and the two of them could really hurt Rock and he was barely armed as it was. Even if the doctor helped Rock out, it just would not have been fair. Air was right, they should have just left immediately.

Saito finally gave up on Elec's antenna and grabbed one of Metal's ears, to try to detach it for teething purposes. Aww, he was enhancing his strength... Of course, the youngling barely had any strength to enhance, so Metal just let him try and realize that it wouldn't work.

Metal had been called inside, but that was just fine; Quick didn't need any help for this part, anyway. He had a lot of "seed" units, courtesy of Wood, and was working on planting them as quickly as he could. They were sprouting into trees immediately, a combination of metal and wood. It would quickly become overgrown, the way Guts' had been. The leaves were razor sharp and there were vines beginning to thread between the matured trees, covered in thorns to create the same effect as a barbed-wire fence.

He was moving quickly and though his power wasn't the same as Time's, it had the same visual effect for humans. So far, they hadn't seen him: to them, this forest was sprouting spontaneously. They were mystified. They were scared. That was what Quick wanted. He wanted their instincts to work to keep them out of here, to keep them away. They wouldn't let them hurt the elders any more and he wanted humanity to hear that declaration, loud and clear.

19, 18, 17... He should be able to get all of the defense trees Wood made planted before he had to run in to rescue him, Quick thought. So much for all of Wood's bragging about his defenses. Of course, since these trees were another of Wood's defenses, and they would be protecting their fathers, now was not the time to be happy that Wood was being taken down a peg. 12... 8... There. He paused, dusting his hands off, plotting a course to where Wood was being held. Everyone thought running fast was so easy, but most of it was compensating for how slow everything else was, like doors (unless you slammed them). It had taken a lot of work to teach him to be anything resembling stealthy.

"-Ey! Excuse me! Yes, you! You had better be able to hear me now." The third eldest stood exactly at the edge of one of the trees' range, one hand on her hips. Not that she had very developed hips, but he certainly wasn't going to say anything like that when he could already feel how annoyed she was. "This is just great! Now you're not even letting me in? And you won't even let Rock see our brothers?" Elec had taken way too long to let her know that they were alive, and he wouldn't tell her anything else.

Quick blurred back, just a bit, although he wasn't really sure what her scanning range was. They had been told to avoid her, although most of what they didn't want the humans to know had been locked.

"-n't do that!" Not when she was trying to talk to him here! "You can at least start carrying them out yourself, if you're not going to let me. Here I am cleaning up your mess: maybe those people are right, and it is discrimination."

Roll had been having a nice day, up until she'd found out that no, her brothers weren't even safe in the place they'd been put. Wasn't that supposed to be the only justification for keeping them there? And then Rock going out without even putting his armor on—no, a jacket was no substitute!—And then he'd lost an arm and fallen asleep and she'd been so frustrated she had been _this close _to scanning the human when he wouldn't give her a straight answer, although it was obvious who was responsible.

Quick...chose to retreat.

He winced when he felt Flash's weapon. Right, the second eldest must have sent her the design...And she wouldn't have known about the side effects. It had taken...someone he wasn't thinking about right now to figure out why exactly Flash shouldn't use his ability while looking at Quick. Or else...this happened.

"Roll!" A worried voice came over the walkie-talkie at her waist as she held her stomach. Quick was honestly impressed she wasn't throwing up, but her pupils were still dilated. She was standing up? Ok, that was impressive. It should have been movement management that was the worst hit.

"Sorry about that. ...She kind of logic bombed her brain." Quick tried not to feel embarrassed, although a lot of the times this had happened to Flash actually had been his fault, since he hadn't checked where Flash was looking.

"The nanites are malfunctioning?"

"No, it's the human part that got logic bombed. You humans say that we're inferior because we think half with computers, but your brains are computers, too. Seeing my ability with Flash's weapon enabled makes it segfault, or something. Non-Euclidean geometry. And then the body assumes that it's a hallucination caused by some toxin and tries to purge the system." She _still _wasn't throwing up? "She'll be fine once her brain terminates the infinite loop. It keeps trying to make those calculations make sense. So it's a logic bomb for humans."

Quick looked her over, apologetically. But still, he'd have to let Flash know that Roll held up better than he ever had, and it wasn't even her weapon. Behind him, the trees creaked and grew, becoming strong as the vines began threading around them. He could get through easily; the vines wouldn't bite at him. Others, though?

Also, he should probably get out of here before she regained control, because if she thought that was meant as an _attack_, then he would have... mostly started it, and she probably would be angry enough he'd done something like that to start off with a hostile takeover scan.

He was going to be in enough trouble as it was for just this, come the debriefing.

"Sorry, but there's something I need to do." Rescue Wood from the second eldest: he'd already gotten Wood's weapon, but that wouldn't be a problem.

So he ran.

"Roll?" Dr. Light tried again over the radio. The soldiers looked at each other - she wasn't being attacked, but did they want to go that close to those trees? "Roll?"

Roll hadn't lost control of her body, and her brain was still recording all the sensory data, but it took much longer for her to stop trying to resolve the problem than it ever had Flash.

That was just _not right_. It was _offensive_.

Rock was an amiable boy who mostly reacted as things came up. Roll? Was a control freak. She hadn't told Dr. Light because it wasn't any of his business, and it was much easier to run his life when he wasn't actually aware that she was.

Rock didn't seem to have much in the way of territorial instincts. Their brothers did, from the way they'd protected their hospitals: that was why she'd given them their own shared territory, their room, because she knew she'd go nuts without a space that was _hers_ and her domain.

The universe was supposed to function according to _rules_. Her rules, preferably. Everything worked out much better that way. Hadn't all this started because the hospitals hadn't obeyed the rules in their contracts and lied to Dr. Light? Hadn't the day gone to hell when the government disobeyed the rules of evidence, even if they weren't applying the rules about how people should be treated (yet)?

And now that, that... It wasn't supposed to work like that! If her movement programming had a flaw like that, then what else had flaws? What else wasn't actually in her control and therefore could go wrong and end with her kin getting killed?

She took a deep breath, knowing that wouldn't help. Her body had classified this as top priority, something that had to be resolved. Since she couldn't defeat the 'enemy' that had caused her to become aware of this threat and feel as though she'd solved it that way, she had to reaffirm that the universe was nicely under control another way.

Unfortunately, her broom was at home, and she couldn't get in the facility to tidy it up.

That left only one option.

And she was down to her last chocolate bar, too. She'd have to go look at Dr. Light until he got someone to got her some.

Well, it wasn't as though there was anything _else _she could do at the moment.

She hated being unproductive.


	6. Not Quite a Kidnapping

_Sorry about the delay in updates. While we do have quite a bit pre-written, there was a lot more editing than I anticipated and then real life happened. Don't you just love that?_

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><p>Rock was immensely confused. He could sense several bioroids moving about, although the only frequency he recognized was Metal's. The signal hadn't stopped completely, even when Metal was unconscious, but now he seemed to be moving around again. It couldn't be, but…it had almost felt like Metal had Dr. Hikari's baby with him for a while: the child had been moved deeper into the facility. It was possible Dr. Hikari had been with him and Rock hadn't felt it. The turned had weaker signals, but Rock was pretty sure Dr. Hikari had stayed where he was. Metal seemed to be going back and forth a lot, but the child was staying put in the center.<p>

Comprehension dawned on Rock: was that where his brothers were? But why would Metal have taken the baby? It was impossible that he kidnapped him: separating kin was beyond cruel to a bioroid. As angry as the children were, they wouldn't do that. Even if they sought to punish Dr. Hikari, they wouldn't do that to the baby.

Right?

He needed to find out what happened, why the child was there if Dr. Hikari wasn't. Of course, none of the children would allow Dr. Hikari anywhere near Elec or the others. Perhaps there'd been a misunderstanding. Maybe Metal hadn't taken Saito to Elec but just put him in one of the rooms where the turned were supposed to be, so that he'd be safe? Rock needed to figure out what was going on.

He turned down a corridor and began running, focusing almost entirely on the frequencies in the facility and the quickest way to reach them. He was so distracted he almost tripped over a vine.

Wait.

A vine?

He stopped and looked around: there were vines and other plants everywhere. That wasn't right, he was still inside. The rest of the hall was overgrown with verdant greenery and Rock carefully stepped into the adjoining lobby, glancing around. It was similarly overgrown here, and there was a bioroid standing in the midst of it all.

He was covered in thick, bulky armor that was gnarled and craggy like an aged tree. If Rock was one for high fantasy, he'd say this one sort of looked like an ent. Cautiously, Rock stepped into the room, looking around. "Um, hello."

The bioroid crossed his arms, determined. "Some of our fathers have insisted on staying, so you'll just have to stay put, too!" Vines reached for him, to grab instead of strike.

Rock was hoping that they'd at least be able to talk! So some of his brothers were staying? That meant some were intending to _leave_. At least that explained why the children were so anxious, why they were moving around a lot more. Like this one, they were all probably planting defenses. Working to protect their parents.

Rock equipped the Metal Blades and swiped them at the vines, stepping back to try and stay out of their reach. This was good: at least the blades were effective. "I need to talk to my brothers, I won't hurt them!"

"Trying to trick them into staying where they'll be killed _is _hurting them!" Was the second eldest that stupid?

Roots speared up through the ground, mostly intending to trip him but if he happened to get injured, well, he'd heal. And he'd injured their fathers, so Wood thought he deserved it anyway.

"There's a restraining order! They can't do anything to them!" Rock rolled to the side, away from the roots and threw a blade at them to keep them from snaking after him. They were his brothers, his kin, too! He was worried, he needed to see them, to see that they were alright.

"Humans lie! They nearly killed them! If the poison gas hadn't been blocked... They would have died! The guard captain, the one you talked to that time," Wood had been watching through Quick, who had been on that shift in disguise, "Pushed the button! And others ordered it... Humans can't be trusted! They murdered the Eldest, even though he considered Dr. Light kin, they'll murder our fathers and you, too! If our fathers like you, then we should take you with us, _maybe_, but you're not keeping them here!" A leaf appeared in his hands, and another, and another.

Rock hesitated for just a moment. The guard he spoke to…how did this child know about that? Were they watching all along? And he hadn't noticed? Rock shook his head: it was true that there were humans out there that wanted them dead, but there were humans out there that supported bioroids, too. "Doing this won't solve anything. They'll be even more afraid now, even more desperate to protect themselves…"

"And we have a right to protect ourselves, too! Once our fathers are away from here..." Wood shut up and sent the leaves spiraling out of his hands, cutting through the air toward Rock. They were brittle compared to metal, but sharp enough and easier to replace.

Rock managed to knock most of them away with the Metal Blades, but one bit into his arm and he winced. It wasn't anything like the injury he sustained from Metal; his arm was still functional, so he formed a metal blade in his hand. He'd need to knock Wood down some, get some of his armor off, before he could use the weapon Dr. Light prepared. He didn't want to seriously hurt Wood, so he had to aim carefully.

If he threw one of the blades at an angle, maybe he could slice layers of this child's armor off? He'd have to throw the blades hard, and properly, so that they rotated, but if they were glancing blows then he wouldn't hurt Wood too badly.

Wood tried to block with his leaves, but the blade cut through the tendrils connecting them, the ones that allowed Wood to control them, and they fell to the ground.

Rock didn't give Wood any quarter this time around and slung some blades at him, at an angle. He needed to slough it off slowly, try not to hit the skin underneath. If he cut Wood too badly then he'd… he wouldn't be able to attack again for a while, and Wood would regrow his armor in that time. Then Rock would have to hurt him all over again, and he didn't want to do that. So he wanted to do it right the first time.

Metal's weapon was a lot easier to use than Cut's. He wondered if the children had studied the designs of their parents and how they'd come up with their own abilities in the first place. Well, they'd had a lot of time to wait. Still... It was a relief that Wood wasn't really hurt when the bark came off. There weren't nerves in there, so it would have done a very good job keeping Rock from getting at his nanites.

Wood had figured out what Rock was doing, but even though he raised vines and roots, they were easy enough to dodge: Rock could feel the roots move in the ground, and the vines weren't very strong. He felt Wood grumble at Metal, and he wanted to say that it wasn't Metal's fault, but he didn't want to give Wood time to regrow too much armor, although he'd given him a bit of time to heal after each slice, just to be sure.

So he fired.

Like Flash's face, bare skin meant Rock's weapon worked really well: Wood went right to sleep. Rock remembered to ask Roll's permission before scanning him, just enough to get his weapon, and make sure he was okay, before pushing him under one of his trees, where he would be safe and out of the way. There wasn't anyone else to put him with, and Rock had to find his brothers.

When Rock turned to go, he felt Roll alert him. He spun around, but Wood was gone. There was another one like Time? Oh, that might be why he'd felt Metal somewhere nearby: he must have saved his cousin, or brother.

The little one, though... He frowned, but decided that it was best to just get to his brothers and find out. Maybe they'd just wanted to be sure he was okay? Or maybe Elec had met the little one at the hospital and missed him?

That might make sense, but something still felt off about it. Separating a father and child like that just didn't feel _right._ At least now he'd be able to make his way over to his brothers, find out what happened. See that they were okay. They could tell the children to stop fighting, that everything would be fine now.

When he opened the door to the next room, another nephew was there. Yes, it was the one Roll had seen. No, he wouldn't use Flash's weapon.

At least he hadn't attacked yet? That was good. "I feel bad, fighting people when I don't even know their names." He only knew Wood's from scanning him.

"It's Quick," the nephew said. "I took him someplace safe," though he didn't tell Rock that he'd run Wood up to their fathers' room and all the way back down here in the time it took the shorter bioroid to enter this room.

"That was nice of you. I just... When people are fighting, when people are afraid, I don't think anyone is safe." His brothers... "I don't want to hurt you, but I have to do what I can to make sure that my brothers, and everyone will be okay."

"We want them to be safe, too. We don't want to hurt you, either." Quick frowned and shook his head, "But, if we leave them here, alone, unguarded, they'll be killed—and don't even bring up that order your doctor had put up. As though a piece of paper would stop them." It was amazing that humanity seemed to be so two-faced about their own laws. "Did you know they were being starved, unable to do _anything?_ That the guards barely even blinked when the order was issued?"

"They weren't being given enough to make armor or weapons," Rock acknowledged, "But Roll was making sure they weren't being starved, that they would be okay. Both of us, and Dr. Light, we've been doing everything we can for them. And we'll be able to take them home, after this." It was part of the order, and their lawyer thought that if anyone tried to argue with that, they would be shouted down for being stupid. Put another facility, more people, at risk, when Rock was the only one who could guard them and Dr. Light was in danger anyway? "And the soldiers... They obey orders. It's their job, to protect people, and sometimes protecting people means hurting people." Both of them knew that, didn't they? Even though they didn't like it. "I don't think he would have liked it, any more than I would like fighting you, or you would like fighting me." But both of them would still do it.

Quick seriously doubted that living with Dr. Light could be referred to as a "safe" existence. "They don't consider us to be people." Quick said simply and flicked his wrist. A golden, metallic boomerang was in his hand. "Humanity failed to keep them safe in the hospitals, failed to keep them safe here. There's no reason for us to believe that promise a third time." And he was _gone._ Something slammed into Rock from the side, sending him tumbling. Quick stepped back, Rock's vision of him blurring before solidifying again.

"_Roll?" _he sent, because Quick was _fast_. He thought that, even after what he'd discovered fighting Metal, there was only one way he would really be able to _hit _him. To hurt him enough to slow him down and use the inhibitor nanites, but that would inhibit Quick's ability to heal. So he'd have to move _fast_, and Roll was better at healing than he was. He sent her what he had planned, and then his relief and thanks when she agreed.

He took a deep breath, got to his feet, and summoned Wood's leaves, sent them spiraling out throughout the room.

The leaves themselves wouldn't have been a very big deal. It was the tendrils that connected them. When Quick was going so fast? He'd hit one, and the momentum would send all the leaves connected to it slicing into him, one after another after another.

Rock only had to make a few strands of them, and they were easy to make.

He would have hesitated after each blow, but Quick was moving so fast, he ran into all of them at once. It was the blink of an eye before Rock saw his nephew's battered body fall to the ground, and he begged Roll to use Rock's own systems to start scanning Quick, start healing, before Rock even got to his feet, before he even fired his buster.

After that, he dropped to his knees and wrapped his arms around the nephew, focusing all his attention on him to get more data and make it easier for Roll to act through him.

Please let him be okay, please...

It had been hard, sometimes, to figure out how to use the weapons of his brothers to beat them. Maybe it was that the nephews had better weapons, but Quick, Wood... it had been too easy to hurt them. He hated it.

There was blood everywhere, but with Roll's help it slowed quickly. Even though Quick's nanites already started working to close the smaller cuts, the sheer number of injuries meant it was almost as bad as when Metal lopped Rock's arm off. Quick remained unconscious, but his pain indicators quieted considerably. Rock knew his brothers had to have felt that; he wondered whose child this was. He hoped they wouldn't be too angry with him. He hoped they'd understand.

Quick wasn't as big as Wood, but he was still bigger than Rock. His armor was surprising light, so Rock was able to pull him to a corner, out of harm's way. He considered taking him to his brothers, but if another nephew saw him pulling Quick around, they may take it the wrong way. Think he was taking him outside, to Dr. Light.

That would never go over well, and Quick might get hurt again when a fight started.

Rock hugged Quick, and cleaned him off a bit even after he was healed. Seeing blood on his nephews was even worse than his brothers. He hoped he wouldn't have to fight Time again... He hoped they'd forgive him someday. He wished there was something else he could do, but even though he wanted to put Quick with someone there were only humans nearby, and that might scare him if he woke up before they did, or put him in danger if he didn't. So... Rock kept going, and tried to reach Elec, to let him know that Quick was okay, even though they might have felt him being hurt, and that Rock was sorry. He hoped they were okay, but Rock's range was nothing like Roll's. Back then, he hadn't been able to tell that Elec was there until Elec was right behind him. He thought he was getting closer, though.

After a few minutes of walking, Rock began recognized where he was from previous visits. He and Roll had come here several times. Not nearly often enough, Rock thought. He came to what he recognized as the guards' station, the room before the chamber his brothers were contained in. There wasn't any blood on the floor—thankfully, but there were some discarded syringes scattered there. The soldiers were nowhere to be found, but Rock saw some of Metal's blades jutting from the doorway of one of the closets. The blades must be sealing the door shut. He was about to step over to investigate when he heard voices. He turned his head and listened. _His brothers!_

He sent his joy, worry and relief as he ran to them. It probably wasn't over yet; there were nephews nearby, but they would at least let him say hello before fighting, surely. He could see them again and tell Roll they were okay!

Four of his brothers were still in the room, though they'd had their backs to him when he entered. They glanced back to him, torn between greeting him and watching what was unfolding. Rock's eyes widened: there was a large hole blasted into the side of the cell and through it he could see a helicopter. He moved forward carefully, unable to take his eyes from the scene. Fire went to his side and put a comforting hand on Rock's shoulder, sending a message that they were alright. Rock looked at him, confused.

In the helicopter were the children, along with Ice and Elec. Metal was sitting next to Elec, and a nephew he didn't recognize was piloting the aircraft. One of the nephews was bent over someone else—Wood, he realized—and the last thing that Rock focused on was the child in Elec's arms. Dr. Hikari's son.

He opened his mouth, wanting to know why they would do something so terrible but not knowing what to _say_, but was interrupted by a transmission from Elec. He recognized it as being sent only to the first gens, including Rock and Roll. A private line.

"Ice says something's been odd about the children, that they all have memory locks in place," Elec paused and Rock could see him turn to answer one of the children's questions, as though he hadn't just been talking about them. He continued silently, "I think they're aware they have locks, but aren't doing anything about them. They _want_ them there.

"This helicopter wasn't grown by one of us, either," Elec added, looking down at the cockpit from where he was sitting. "There are manufactured parts all over this thing. Parts that were added, a custom job. Parts made by humans." There were minute imperfections on the surface that something assembled from the ground up by nanites wouldn't have, just like the syringes hadn't had them. Why deliberately make something flawed? No, this hadn't been made by nanites, but by the techniques humans had.

Rock saw both brothers make eye contact with him, briefly, as the helicopter took off. Metal glanced back and down, but there was no contempt at Rock in his gaze, nor any trace of smugness.

He looked worried. For them.

So. If that was why they were leaving, Rock knew that they had to. They had to try to protect their children: if someone was using them? Prolonging everyone's pain for some reason, no matter what it was? "_...He wouldn't hurt that child. He loves him very much._" Why did you take him? He tried to send that to Metal. There had to be a reason, there had to be. They wouldn't just... A kin bond like that, just to make someone suffer? No, no. Not even if Elec had suffered because of him, _surely _his brother wouldn't want that. Surely.

Wide blue eyes pleaded that was true.

Metal didn't send a response. There wasn't enough time, not with them taking off and the distance between him and Rock growing greater by the second. Not with Air engaging the cloaking, completely cutting off any transmission. It was like the ones in the chopper stopped existing. Then the cloaking continued, and the helicopter disappeared into the sky. It could not even be heard.

How did you even begin to track that?

Rock turned back to his brothers, eyes wide. The second eldest, and still so young. A child who had nearly lost his brothers, again, and, and... what was going on?

At least these four were safe, for now, and he let Guts enfold him in those big arms, curled up on a lap one of his nephews had left not very long ago at all, but still. He wanted Dr. Light.

This time, it was one of his brothers that carried him out of this place. Placed him into his father's arms, and he clung to Dr. Light's coat the way he had just after Elec.

Because it had begun again, hadn't it? He'd hoped, but this hadn't ended with Fire. He'd had to fight again, he'd have to fight again... Who knew how many times? Metal might fight him _twice_. How could he look at Quick, how could he possibly try to hurt him again, after what he'd nearly done this time?

All his brothers could do was try to calm him, reassure him. Elec and Ice would get to the bottom of this, figure out what was wrong with the children. They'd find out what was wrong, then they could fix it. They'd all work together. Rock wouldn't have to be alone this time around.

His brothers were nervous, standing there, with people _looking _at them, but most of their attention was on Rock, and how Dr. Light had bent down to wrap his arms around the boy.

How, when he cried, most of the humans there were actually _concerned_.

At least no one was demanding they be shut down for transport, kept contained until they reached Light Labs. At least people were looking at Rock as a person, and by extension, were beginning to see them as people. A wave of worry for the children slipped between them, shared by each. They needed to be able to see this, too. They needed to experience this, understand that what they experienced didn't need to be reality. That it wasn't necessarily the way it had to be.

They didn't need to be two species at odds with each other.

Roll had kept their room for them, although it seemed so much larger now. Emptier. Although Roll had a way of filling up space with fluffed-up pillows and fresh water, all sorts of marks that Roll Was Here and was defending this place against worry and chaos (and loneliness) in so many ways that made them wonder what would happen if she decided to defend this place the way they had their hospitals.

Especially when the way that she shook the pillows was kind of a hint that she wanted to grab someone's shoulders and shake some sense into them.

They'd all just kind of stood to the side and let her do her thing. Let her set their room back up. Let her be angry…over there. All four of them knew that there'd be a lot of questions, possibly interrogations. The children would be back, they knew.


End file.
